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MOD joins the global disability community in mourning the recent loss of Judy Heumann.
Judy was a tireless fighter for inclusion and accessibility. Widely known as the “mother of the disability rights movement”, Judy played a key leadership role in historic wins for disability rights.
After contracting polio at the age of two, barriers to learning, working, playing, and living alongside nondisabled peers were placed in Judy’s way. At each step, Judy rallied the community to speak up for disability rights, pass legislation, and show society that people with disabilities had the right to engage in full lives with dignity and inclusion.
Notably, she launched the 26-day sit-in at a federal building in San Francisco to get Section 504 of the revived Rehabilitation Act enforced – the first federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities, and a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“Some people say that what I did changed the world,” she once 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.”
We owe many of our accomplishments to her work, and also owe it to her to keep advocating for change. May we all carry on her legacy of courage and justice.
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