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Judy Heumann, Who Led the Fight for Disability Rights, Dies at 75 [1]
['Alex Traub']
Date: 2023-03-05
Judy Heumann, who spent decades attacking a political establishment indifferent to the rights of disabled people and won one fight after another, ultimately joining and reforming the very establishment she once inveighed against, died on Saturday in Washington, D.C. She was 75.
An announcement on her personal website did not specify the cause.
A quadriplegic since childhood, Ms. Heumann (pronounced human) began her career in activism waging a one-woman battle to be allowed to work as a teacher in New York City when discrimination against disabled people was not widely understood as a problem.
She went on to become an official in the Clinton administration, a special adviser in the Obama State Department and a fellow or board member at some of the nation’s leading nonprofits. She was also featured in the Oscar-nominated 2020 documentary “Crip Camp.”
Over time, she saw a revolution occur in the government’s involvement in the lives of disabled people such as herself. And she, as much as anyone else, helped bring about that revolution.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/05/obituaries/judy-heumann-dead.html
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