Title: Being Heumann
Subtitle: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
Description: A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn’t built for all of us and of one woman’s activism—from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington—Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann’s lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society.

Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy’s struggle for equality began early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a “fire hazard” to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher’s license because of her paralysis, Judy’s actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people.

As a young woman, Judy rolled her wheelchair through the doors of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in San Francisco as a leader of the Section 504 Sit-In, the longest takeover of a governmental building in US history. Working with a community of over 150 disabled activists and allies, Judy successfully pressured the Carter administration to implement protections for disabled peoples’ rights, sparking a national movement and leading to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Subjects: People with disabilities, biography, Teachers, biography, Teachers, united states, Human rights workers, Biography, People with disabilities, Teachers, Human rights, Civil rights, Disabled Persons, School Teachers, Défenseurs des droits de l'homme, Biographies, Personnes handicapées, Enseignants, Droits de l'homme (Droit international), Droits de l'homme, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / People with Disabilities, HISTORY / Women, SOCIAL SCIENCE / People with Disabilities, Jewish women, Handicapped