JUDY HEUMANN | DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATE

Judith (Judy) Heumann is a lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people. She contracted polio in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York and began to use a wheelchair for her mobility. She was denied the right to attend school because she was considered a “fire hazard” at the age of five. Her parents played a strong role in fighting for her rights as a child, but Judy soon determined that she, working in collaboration with other disabled people, had to play an advocacy role due to continuous discrimination.

To learn more, click here.

Additional resources:

• The Life and Legacy of “The Mother” of the Disability Rights Movementhttps://judithheumann.com/project/about/

• Judy Heumann: ‘Crip Camp’ didn’t win Oscar, but it’s still a win for people with disabilities - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/04/23/why-oscarnominated-crip-camp-victory-disability-rights-column/7333682002/

Faith And Disability

While sixteen percent of the global population is disabled, religious communities and spaces around the world are replete with ableist barriers of all kinds, whether it’s a meditative pose that excludes certain bodies, a synagogue’s bimah only accessible by stairs or a Christian hymn that equates blindness with sin. Despite these setbacks, disabled leaders and allies have been advancing accessibility in their theology, worship practices and physical spaces. For many, accessibility isn’t just a matter of morality it’s a spiritual duty.

To learn more click here

Additional resources:

• Faith Communities and Inclusion of People with Developmental Disabilitieshttps://thechp.syr.edu/faith-communities-and-inclusion-of-people-with-developmentaldisabilities/

• Disability in Islam: Insights into Theology, Law, History, and Practicehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/270893538_Disability_in_Islam_Insights_into_ Theology_Law_History_and_Practice

• Disability & Inclusion in Judaism - https://associationforjewishstudies.org/publicationsresearch/adventures-in-jewish-studies-podcast/disability-inclusion-in-judaism-transcript

• Disability, Asian Religions, and Spirituality: Partnering with Faith-Based Organizationshttps://adopt.ahslabs.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2018/04/Chapter-10.pdf

People With Disabilities Who Changed The World

Disabled people are often overlooked for their accomplishments. Even if you did learn about some of these people in school or elsewhere, you may not have known they were members of the disability community.

Fannie Lou Hamer, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Edison, Sojourner Truth, and many more.

Native American Concepts Of Disability

“Everything in Nature goes in curves and circles.”

Native American culture has a very different concept of reality than dominant western culture as the Iroquois Elder explained in the above quote. Native Americans as a culture are comfortable with the idea that reality is inherently chaotic and believe that true health comes from “finding balance in chaos…truth is not a fixed point, but rather an ever evolving point of balance, perpetually created and perpetually new.”[2] These beliefs are sometimes phrased as “Metaphoric Ontology,” or plainly, they deny the existence of a single perspective or interpretation. To learn more, click here

Additional resources:

• Improving Outcomes for Native American Students with Disabilities While Respecting and Honoring Native Culture - https://sites.ed.gov/osers/2022/12/improving-outcomesfor-native-american-students-with-disabilities-while-respecting-and-honoring-nativeculture/

• Native American Disability Law Center: Empowering Native People with Disabilitieshttps://www.nativedisabilitylaw.org/