When I noticed a social media put up saying that Judy Heumann died, my first response was no no no, hopefully that is misinformation. I knew she had been within the hospital, and I hoped that this was a type of macabre false data posts a couple of superstar’s loss of life. But just a few hours later, it was confirmed: Judith Heumann had died on the age of 75, on March 4, 2023.
I first discovered of Judy Heumann again in 2020 once I watched the documentary Crip Camp on Netflix. All I might assume was how have I not heard of her earlier than? (Spoiler alert: ableism). Heumann exuded heat and infectious kindness within the documentary, together with a tenacity that made her a pressure to be reckoned with. I instantly began following her on social media, and noticed that she nonetheless had the identical headstrong spirit she confirmed within the documentary.
The daughter of German Jewish immigrants, Heumann contracted polio when she was 18 months and used a wheelchair for mobility. When she was 5, her mother and father went to register her for college they usually have been instructed they couldn’t as a result of she was a “fire hazard” as a consequence of her use of a wheelchair. Her mother and father fought for her proper to go to highschool, and finally she was allowed to go.
When she graduated from Long Island University in 1969 and wished to turn into a trainer, the NY State Board of Education dominated in 1970 that she wouldn’t be capable of assist kids out of the constructing in case of an emergency and refused to grant her a instructing license. Heumann sued, the case was settled out of courtroom, and Heumann taught elementary college for a number of years. She additionally went on to earn a graduate diploma in public well being from Berkeley.
Seeing how a lot help she received from disabled individuals everywhere in the nation throughout that have, she and a few buddies based Disabled in Action (DIA), a corporation that wished to make it possible for disabled individuals have been protected beneath civil rights legal guidelines. Later, she helped manage the Section 504 sit-in, and performed a major half in creating and making nationwide incapacity rights laws a actuality, together with IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), the Rehabilitation Act, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
She refused to just accept the dominant narrative that her life must be any lower than anybody else’s, just because she was disabled. In the documentary, she defined, “I’m very tired of being thankful for accessible toilets. If I have to be thankful for an accessible bathroom, when am I ever gonna be equal in the community?”
In 1992, Heumann married Jorge Pineda, they usually made their dwelling in Washington, DC.
She additionally helped discovered a number of organizations for incapacity rights and companies, and served in positions for 2 totally different presidential administrations. In addition, she was the primary adviser on incapacity and growth for the World Bank. In 2017, she was arrested with different incapacity activists, for protesting the administration’s makes an attempt to destroy the Affordable Care Act. In her work with the Ford Foundation, she labored to include incapacity inclusion within the work of the Foundation. Her podcast, The Heumann Perspective, began in 2021, the place she spoke with disabled changemakers and activists, in addition to their allies.
Heumann, Disability Literature, and her Legacy
When Crip Camp first got here out, I felt prefer it introduced conversations about incapacity justice into extra settings.
The image guide Fighting for Yes!: The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann was not written by Heumann, although she did pen a word for the guide. It’s an awesome introduction for teenagers about all the work Heumann did and incapacity rights within the US. When my son heard me speaking about Heumann’s loss of life, he remembered we had this guide and instantly wished to reread it.
But she was additionally an enormous supporter of different disabled artists, writers, and creators. Heumann, together with the discharge of Crip Camp, helped to deliver incapacity justice to those that could not have been conscious of it in any other case. It introduced incapacity rights into the highlight, paving the way in which for books revealed a number of months later, like Alice Wong’s Disability Visibility, to be highlighted. Keah Brown paid tribute to Heumann on her Instagram, as did Disability Reframed and celebrities and activists like Marlee Matlin, Haben Girma, and Maria Shriver.
It is tough to overestimate the affect Heumann has had on not simply the incapacity rights motion, however the world. She was a trailblazer, fighter, and tireless advocate. If you, your little one, or somebody you’re keen on has a 504 plan or an IEP, Heumann’s advocacy and onerous work helped make that occur.
Heumann as soon as stated, “Some people say that what I did changed the world. But really, I simply refused to accept what I was told about who I could be. And I was willing to make a fuss about it.”
May her reminiscence be for a blessing, and extra importantly, for Revolution.
If you’d wish to learn extra, take a look at this put up on books to learn for the 30th anniversary of the ADA, and this put up on 10 books to introduce readers to incapacity literature.
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