As the world celebrated women and womanhood on March 8, 2023, it also registers the dignified departure of a very rare woman on the 6th of March 2023 - a human, humane, superhuman Judy Heumann. The name is pronounced human itself, and she proved by her life, how to be fully human and fully alive, in spite of the reality of physical disabilities she faced. Yes, she bore them humanly. Her memoir, of which she is a co-author is rightly named 'Being Heumann'. Its version for young adults is termed 'Rolling Warrior'.
Now it is very common in the educational circles to speak about inclusive education. In India, there are rights for persons with disabilities, euphemistically referred to as differently abled and divyangjan, giving the reality a religio-spiritual aura. Well, if the euphemisms boost their morale and fetch them their dues better, fine. Otherwise, let it be the reality of limitations, and the possibilities of one's abilities despite the disabilities.
But this disability rights bandwagon, in India or elsewhere, owes a great deal to this daring and amazing woman. She was born on December 18, 1947 in Philadelphia to German Jewish parents, who had fled Nazi persecution. She was brought up in New York. At age 2, a severe attack of polio took away her mobility, and had to be on an 'iron lung' for months to keep her alive. With a culture mileu that had accepted that 'kids with disability were a social and economic hardship', he initial education had to be homeschooling by her own mother. But with the survivor's instincts inherited from her parents, she graduated from high school, went on to complete her bachelor's from Long Island University, and Master's degree in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley.
In the 70s, she waged a legal war against New York board of education, leading to her becoming the first teacher on a wheelchari in the United States. The non-violent struggle under her leadership in a federal building in Sanfrancisco led to the historical enactment of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. She played a crucial role in getting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified in May 2008. Her vision and merit didn't go unrecognized by the US government. She was made the assistant secretary of the US Office for Special Education and Disability Services in 1993, and she held that office till 2001.
Maria Town, president of American Association of People with Disabilities, herself a palsy affected person, narrates how Judy was instrumental in making people accept the reality, come to terms with it, and do well in spite of it. Her efforts were in the direction of making things better for the people affected by disabilities. To her credit are: the Berkeley Center for Independent Living, the Independent Living Movement and the World Institute on Disability. She served on the boards of several related organizations including the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Humanity and Inclusion and the United States International Council on Disability, her website says.
Immigrant German, Jewish, disabled, woman - all these could have been disabilities for her times. She not only overcame them, but became a trailblazer for millions who bear the mark of disabilities, to assure them their rights in this world which is equally theirs!
My special salute is to this great woman, Mother of Disability Rights Movement, not a mere survivor, but real winner, overcoming several odds in her life, and demostrated powerfully, that another way is possible.
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