[NFBMI-Talk] "The World Mourns the Passing of Judy Heumann, Disability Rights Activist" - AAPD

[mpowell7583 at yahoo.com]

Greetings Kane.
I heard something on this today on Good Morning America and when I figured out who they were talking about who had passed I realized I knew who Ms. Heuman was. 
I had learned about her through my reading of books and literature  about the disability movement and I do recall her speaking at one of our national conventions.  I don't recall what year it was but she sounded different than the voice I heard on the recording of her that was played on the broadcast today so it must have been some time back.
I know that she was on a panel with some of our advocates and other disability rights people.  This may have been when Marc Maurer was president.  I bet if we looked back to previous conventions we would find her.
Thanks for sending this.
Michael Powell    
-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk <nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Kane Brolin via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 1:44 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Kane Brolin <kbrolin65 at gmail.com>; gmmishler at gmail.com
Subject: [NFBMI-Talk] "The World Mourns the Passing of Judy Heumann, Disability Rights Activist" - AAPD

Greetings and a happy Monday to all within reach of this message.

A wise friend once pointed out to me that "gratitude never goes out of style."

It is with a grateful heart, albeit a sad heart, that we mourn the passing of someone whose life matters a lot to us in the organized blind movement, even if many of us might never have heard of Ms. Judy Heumann.  Her last name is spelled h e u m a n n.  Here are a few excerpts from the obituary prepared by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

" ... Judy was instrumental in developing and implementing national disability rights legislation, including Section 504, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. ...

"Born in 1947 in Philadelphia and raised in Brooklyn, New York to parents Ilse and Werner Heumann, Judy contracted polio at age two. Her doctor advised her parents to institutionalize her when it was clear that she would never be able to walk. “Institutionalization was the status quo in 1949,” she wrote. “Kids with disabilities were considered a hardship, economically and socially.” When Judy attempted to enter kindergarten, the principal blocked her family from entering the school, labeling her a “fire hazard.” However, her parents, particularly her mother, fought back and demanded that Judy have access to a classroom. Judy eventually was able to attend a special school, high school, Long Island University (from which she earned a B.A. in 1969), and the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Master’s in Public Health six years later.

"In the 1960s, Heumann attended Camp Jened, a summer camp for people with disabilities in the Catskills, and she later returned there as a counselor in the 1970s. Several of the leaders of the disability rights movement also were at Camp Jened, which was the focus of the documentary Crip Camp.

"During the same decade, the New York Board of Education refused to give Judy a teaching license because they feared she could not help evacuate students or herself in case of fire. She sued and went on to become the first teacher in the state to use a wheelchair. Continuing her fight for civil rights, Judy helped lead a protest that shut down traffic in Manhattan against Richard Nixon’s veto of the 1972 Rehabilitation Act, and she launched a 26-day sit-in at a federal building in San Francisco to get Section 504 of the revived Rehabilitation Act enforced. ...

"In addition, Judy helped found the Berkeley Center for Independent Living, the Independent Living Movement, and the World Institute on Disability. She also served on the boards of the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Humanity and Inclusion, Human Rights Watch, the United States International Council on Disability, Save the Children, and several others.

"In 1993, Judy moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in the Clinton Administration, a role she filled until 2001.
>From 2002-2006, she served as the first Advisor on Disability and Development at the World Bank. From 2010-2017, during the Obama Administration, she worked as the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. State Department. She also was appointed as Washington, D.C.’s first Director for the Department on Disability Services.

"“Some people say that what I did changed the world,” she wrote, “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.”"

Does her tone and her emphasis on raised expectations sound familiar?
It should.

You might be interested to know that just a couple of years prior to her death, Judy Heumann published two autobiographies.  Both are available from NLS BARD, the downloadable Talking Book service maintained for print and disabled people by the Library of Congress.
The grown-up version "Being Heumann: An Unrepentant memoir Of A Disability Rights Activist" is DB100399.  The other version, intended for youngsters of grades 6 through 9: "Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story Of A Rebel Girl On Wheels Who Helped Spark A Revolution" is DB105457.

To read the full obituary from AAPD's Website, please visit https://www.aapd.com/press-releases/the-world-mourns-the-passing-of-judy-heumann-disability-rights-activist/.

Cordially,

Kane Brolin
President, Indiana State Affiliate
National Federation of the Blind
(574)386-8868 (mobile)

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