Being Heumann : an unrepentant memoir of a disability rights activist / Judith Heumann ; with Kristen Joiner : an unrepentant memoir of a disability rights activist

A powerful memoir by one of the most influential disability rights activists in U.S. history and a manifesto for the future of accessibility. Paralyzed from polio and raised by her Holocaust surviving parents, Judy Heumann's fight for equal access began early in life. She fought her high school, who initially denied her a diploma because of her inability to participate in gym; she fought her college who described her as "a fire hazard;" and she filed a lawsuit against the New York City school system, who denied her a teacher's license because of her paralysis, which she won. As a young woman, Judy rolled her wheelchair through the doors of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in San Francisco and organized what would be the longest takeover of a federal building in U.S. history. Demanding the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, protecting the rights of all people with disabilities, Judy led 150 disabled people in a sit-in, supported by the Black Panthers, Butterfly Brigade, Chicanos, and labor unions. In Being Heumann, we journey with Judy as she evolves from a woman that took on the U.S. government to a woman who worked within the government for 30 years, promoting rights for people with disabilities in the U.S. and across the world. Part memoir, part manifesto, it presents a blueprint for the future of disability rights.