Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

by Judith Heumann

When I think back, I am in awe at how differently things could have gone if I had given in to my fear and insecurity. What if I’d just let the issue go because I didn’t want to make a fuss? To begin with, I never would have known whether I was able to teach. Even more important, I would have been accepting what the system was telling me about who I was and what I could do. Even if I’d lost the court case, just bringing the case would still have changed my life because I stood up and told the system that it was wrong about me. I was fighting for what I believed in. The fact that I did win validated my perspective on our issues, which was that people with disabilities do face discrimination, and if we take the time to fight, we may win. Later, the State of New York passed legislation to ensure that people who are blind or physically disabled are not prevented from teaching. The other thing that happened in the aftermath of the court case was that my friends and I decided to organize a civil rights organization: an organization run by and for disabled people.