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# U.S. Education Secretary Issues Statement on Passing of Disability Rights Leader Judy Heumann

# U.S. Education Secretary Issues Statement on Passing of Disability Rights Leader Judy Heumann

March 6, 2023

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

                                    -        
Today,  U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement on  the passing of Disability Rights Leader Judy Heumann:

“On March  4, our country lost a great disability rights leader with the passing of Judith (Judy) Heumann. As Assistant Secretary for the  Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services during the Clinton  Administration, Judy helped ensure that students with disabilities not only had  the right to physically attend public school, but that such students had the  right to learn the same curriculum as their non-disabled peers. Her  leadership is realized in the nearly 20 percentage point jump from 2000 to 2023  in the number of students with disabilities who graduate with a standard high  school diploma. Judy’s legacy also includes influencing the  publication of the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation  Act of 1973 that bars discrimination against disabled people in federally  funded programs.  

“Judy  Heumann’s devotion to public education for all students was second to none.  After she had polio as a toddler, her parents had to fight to enroll her in  public school. When she graduated from college, she had to sue the New  York Board of Education to validate that using a wheelchair did not prohibit a  person from being a qualified teacher. One of her last speaking engagements was  on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to a group of middle and high school  students on the connection between the disability rights movement and the civil  rights movement.

“Judy was  always an educator, always a trailblazer, always a leader. We send our deepest  condolences to her husband, Jorge Pineda; her brothers, Ricky and Joseph; and  her extended family. Her memory will forever be a blessing.”
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