Author Description

Product Description A disability rights activist tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy began her struggle for equality early in life. From fighting to attend grade school to rolling 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, Judy has set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people. As a young woman, working with a community of over 150 disabled activists and allies, Judy helped to successfully pressure the Carter administration to implement protections for disabled people’s rights, sparking a national movement and leading to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Candid, intimate, and irreverent, Being Heumann is a story of one woman’s lifelong battle to make real a world in which we all belong. About the Author Judith Heumann is an internationally recognized leader in the Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement. Her work with a wide range of activist organizations, NGOs, and governments since the 1970s has contributed greatly to the development of human-rights legislation and policy benefiting disabled people. She has advocated for disability rights at home and abroad, serving in the Clinton and Obama administrations and as the World Bank’s first adviser on disability and development. Kristen Joiner is an award-winning entrepreneur in the global nonprofit and social-change sector. Her writing on empowerment, inclusion, and human rights has been published in numerous outlets including the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Ali Stroker won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Ado Annie in Oklahoma! She’s appeared on Glee, Ten Days in the Valley, Charmed, Lethal Weapon, Drunk History, and Instinct.