Being Heumann

Judith Heumann is a lifelong political activist for disability rights in the United States and around the world. Judith was born in Brooklyn, New York and contracted polio when she was 18 months old. She has paralysis from the waist down as a result. She uses a wheelchair but has never let her disability hold her back. She considers her disability the reason she has had a rich life filled with community, achievement, and learning all there is to know.

As a child, Judith was aware of her disability but not of how it limited her or how the world viewed her. This began to change when her mother took her to kindergarten, and she was rejected from entering. Doubt was reinforced when Judith was eight and a boy asked her if she is sick, and Judith realized that the world views her as unable to fend for herself. These experiences, along with being discriminated against when she attempted to get her teaching license, inspired her to become an activist.

Judith inherits her persistence—she describes herself as “calmly unstoppable” (128)—and rejection of the status quo from her parents and from growing up during the Civil Rights Movement. She has never wished to not have a disability, and having one has taught her about herself and the world. She states:

I’ve had to learn to push through my insecurities. I’ve learned I’m stronger in a group. I know having my disability has given me opportunities I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t had it. If I’d simply been a girl growing up in Brooklyn, I wouldn’t have been exposed to the same things. I know it pushed me to study harder, work harder, and achieve harder. To travel. I know it pushed me to fight. TO change how others saw us—our human potential (202).

In short, she urges her readers in Seeing Disability Differently.

When Judith attended Health Conservation 21 and a camp for children with disabilities, she began to discover The Power of Unity in Effecting Change. In university, Judith worked on student council while in a body cast after a spinal fusion, showing her persistence at a young age. After so many experiences of discrimination, it was refreshing and comforting to find people to whom she could relate and who understood what she had been through. It is through this sense of community in organizations like the CIL and DIA that she finds the strength to effect change.

Judith cofounded many NGOs and initiatives related to disability rights, including the DIA, the CIL, the WID, and IDEA. She co-led the occupation of the San Francisco Capitol and protests to force the signing of the Rehabilitation Act. She has also worked for several administrations to fine-tune and implement policies and has traveled the globe to learn about how people with disabilities are treated and viewed in other cultures. Judith was almost always offered these influential positions, as people saw her contributions as useful, and her knowledge and experience were invaluable to them. In citing The Effects of Discrimination and the Long Road to Equality, Judith believes that the fight is never over, as rights can always be taken away and improvements can always be made.