Judith Heumann

Her mother came to the US from Germany in 1935 while her father came in 1934.

Heumann's grandparents, great-grandparents, and many other family members were killed in the Holocaust.

Her brother Joseph Heumann is a film professor and author.

Heumann contracted polio at the age of 18 months, and used a wheelchair most of her life.

She rejected cliches about disability as a tragic experience, saying, "Disability only becomes a tragedy for me when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives––job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example. It is not a tragedy to me that I'm living in a wheelchair."

Heumann and her parents had to fight repeatedly for her to be included in the educational system.

The local public school refused to allow her to attend, calling her a fire hazard due to her inability to walk.

Instead, for three years she was given home instruction twice a week, for about an hour each visit.

Heumann's mother, Ilsa Heumann, a community activist in her own right, challenged the decision.

Heumann was then allowed to go to a special school in the fourth grade for disabled children.

Per city policy, Heumann was to return to home instruction for high school.

Heumann's mother rallied against this policy with other parents who put enough pressure on the school to reverse the policy.

Judith Ellen "Judy" Heumann (December 18, 1947March 4, 2023) was an American disability rights activist, known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement".

She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community.

Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities.

Heumann entered high school in 1961.

She attended Camp Jened, a camp for children with disabilities, in Hunter, New York, every summer from ages 9 to 18.

Heumann's experience of camp brought her a greater awareness of the shared disabled experience, later saying, "We had the same joy together, the same anger over the way we were treated and the same frustrations at opportunities we didn't have."

At Camp Jened, Heumann met Bobbi Linn and Freida Tankus, both of whom she would later work with as disability rights activists.

Heumann graduated from Long Island University in 1969.

Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, and various other disability interest groups, produced significant contributions since the 1970s to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities.

Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development.

Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.

Heumann was born in Philadelphia, to Werner and Ilse Heumann, who were German Jewish immigrants.

Heumann was the oldest of three children and she grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1970, Heumann was denied her New York teaching license because the Board did not believe she could get herself or her students out of the building in case of a fire.

She sued the Board of Education on the basis of discrimination.

A local newspaper ran a headline of "You Can Be President, Not Teacher, with Polio".

The case settled without a trial and Heumann became the first wheelchair user to teach in New York City and taught elementary school there for three years.

Heumann received much mail from disabled people around the country due to her press coverage while suing the Board of Education.

Many wrote in about their experiences with discrimination because of their disabilities.

Based on the outpouring of support and letters, in 1970, Heumann and several friends founded Disabled in Action (DIA), an organization that focused on securing the protection of people with disabilities under civil rights laws through political protest.

It was originally called Handicapped in Action, but Heumann disliked that name and lobbied to change it.

In 1972, DIA demonstrated in New York City with a sit-in protesting one of the vetoes.

Early versions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 were vetoed by President Richard Nixon in October 1972 and March 1973.

She also earned a Master of Science degree in public health at the University of California, Berkeley in 1975.

Heumann began making major moves toward rights for people with disabilities while attending Long Island University.

She organized rallies and protests with other students with and without disabilities, demanding access to her classrooms by ramps and the right to live in a dorm.

Heumann studied speech therapy.

The 2020 Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp features Camp Jened campers, including Heumann.