The Power of Disability Part 2 — with Judy Heumann (video)

Abstract

Judy is a lifelong activist and leader in the disability rights movement in the United States and internationally. At eighteen months old, Judy was paralyzed from polio and has been a wheelchair user ever since.  She is the first person who used a wheelchair to teach in New York City but not before she sued the NY City Board of Education. In 1977 she led the longest sit-in of a federal building to date, lasting 28 days which led to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The event and its lasting impact is captured in the Netflix documentary, Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” which won the Sundance Audience award. It was also shortlisted for the best documentary at the recent (2021) Academy Awards. She went on to serve as the deputy director at the Center for Independent Living in California for seven years. She Co-Founded the World Institute on Disability with Ed Roberts She has worked for the World Bank and the Ford Foundation. She was appointed first ever Special Advisor on Disability Rights for the U.S. State Department under President Barack Obama. Time Magazine featured her on their cover as one of the 100 most influential women of the last century representing the year 1977. She is the author of Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist