Wednesday, March 23, 7-8 pm EST
Being Heumann: The Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist is the powerful story of one Jewish woman’s fight to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society for herself and disabled people in the United States and later, around the world. Born in the late 1940s to Jews who fled Nazi Germany, and paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy Heumann’s struggle for equality began early in life when she was legally barred from grade school due to being a “fire hazard” as there were no protections of disabled American’s civil rights at the time.
With inspiration and support from her parents, Judy went on to become one of the most influential disability rights activists in the US, leading sit-ins and protests that ultimately lead to the passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first disability civil rights law to be enacted in the U.S. which later set the stage for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many may have seen the fierce yet loving teenage Judy spreading her leadership wings in Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, the 2020 Netflix film executive produced by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama about a groundbreaking summer camp which galvanized a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality in the 1970s.
Zoom links will be sent at least 24 hours prior to the event via email.
