One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human.
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.
Candid, intimate, and irreverent, Judy Heumann&;s memoir about resistance to exclusion invites readers to imagine and make real a world in which we all belong.
