Disability Rights Movement

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Sinead Burke is an educator and activist who was born with Achlasia, the most common form of dwarfism. Growing up, Burke felt limited by what she could wear due to her disability, and as a result began blogging about her experience, questioning the fashion industry's exclusive idea of beauty and body shape. She pursued her dream to become a teacher, but continued to advocate for inclusivity in fashion design.

Burke was invited to attend the White House under the Obama administration, and gave a TED talk 'Why design should include everyone' to raise awareness about the importance of inclusive design in all areas of life, especially in a world that was not designed for people with disabilities. She serves as the director of the consulting organization Tilting the Lens, working to raise the baseline standards in accessibility, to design an equitable and accessible world. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Irish Council of State, appeared on the cover of British Vogue, and she continues to advocate for disability equality to the current day.

Jazzie Collins (1958 – 2013) was an organizer, activist, and leader from San Francisco. Her leadership and advocacy were focused on the rights of LGBTQ individuals, older people, tenants, and labor.

She was open with her own HIV diagnosis at a time when such transparency carried great risk.  Over a 20-year career in activism, her accomplishments included being a volunteer and organizer for Senior and Disability Action, chairperson of the San Francisco’s LGBT Aging Policy Taskforce, managing the operations of the “6th Street Agenda” food pantry, founding Queers for Economic Equality Now (QUEEN), and serving on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trans March. In 2003, her advocacy with the Prop L Committee lead to an increase in the minimum wage in San Francisco.

Her lifetime achievements and energic and passionate activism were honored on the floor of the California State Capitol by the Legislative Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus for her advocacy work for justice and equality in 2013.

Justin Dart, Jr. was an American advocate for the disabled who was widely recognized as the “father” of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Dart was born into a prominent family in 1930, his grandfather Charles R. Walgreen established the Walgreens drugstore chain. At age 18, Dart contracted polio, and the illness left him confined to a wheelchair. After graduating from the University of Houston, Dart briefly studied law at the University of Texas before undertaking several business ventures. During that time he also became active in the disability rights movement.

In 1981 U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan appointed him vice-chairman of the National Council on Disability. Dart and other council members drafted a national policy on equal rights for disabled people, and the document ultimately became the foundation of the ADA. In 1986 Dart became head of the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration, but he was forced to resign the following year after he criticized the department during a congressional hearing. After the ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990, Dart promoted the legislation and fought later efforts to amend it.

Dart was the recipient of numerous awards, notably the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, and passed away in 2002.

Ellie Goldstein was born December 18th in 2001. She is most recognized for being the first model with a disability to represent the Gucci brand and model their beauty products. Her journey to fashion began through her love of the arts where she acted in school plays at age five. Goldstein eventually went on to appear in productions at the Royal Opera House and Royal Albert Hall. When she was 15 she joined Zebedee Management, which is an agency that focuses on models with disabilities. In November of 2019 she was scouted for a digital editorial entitled "Unconventional Beauty" shot by David PD Hyde. This editorial was created by Gucci Beauty and Vogue Italia as an attempt to campaign beauty that is non-stereotypical or unconventional and therefore not as celebrated  or seen as it should be. 

Goldstein has broken many boundaries through her work building a platform that will drive greater inclusivity throughout the fashion industry and world.

Mary Temple Grandin was born August 29th in 1947. Grandin serves as a prominent figure in the humane treatment of livestock that are raised for slaughter and/or human consumption. She is an author that has written over 60 scientific papers on animal behavior, is considered to be a highly qualified consultant on the livestock industry who can offer advice on animal behavior, and is a spokesperson for autism as well as neurodiversity. 

Grandin was not formally diagnosed with autism until well into her adulthood. Before this, the only diagnosis she had ever received pertaining to her behavior and development was "brain damage", which was dismissed in her later life. Outside of that, the closest her autism was to recognition was through her mother after she happened upon a diagnostic checklist for autism. After reviewing the checklist, Grandin's mother hypothesized that Grandin's symptoms were best explained by this disorder, which was later to be determined more specifically as autistic savant. Grandin's mother continued to see and advocate for her before her official diagnosis. During this time, the medical advice towards those who are similar to Grandin was institutionalization. While Grandin's father was in favor of this, her mother was not and instead took her to the world's leading special needs researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital where she received specialized treatment that helped her with her speech therapy, needs, and sensitivities. From here she was able to be nannied by someone who understood her and could play educational games with her, in addition to being able to attend a kindergarten where her teachers and classmates focused on creating an environment to accommodate Grandin's needs and sensitivities. Sadly, the rest of her education did not follow suit. Grandin has described herself as the "nerdy kid" whom everyone ridiculed and regularly taunted. This mistreatment caused her to act out leading to an expulsion when she was 14.

In the end this expulsion was a gift, lead to her developing her "squeeze machine" concept that she created during her time on her uncle and aunts farm which was a place she was sent following her expulsion once she turned 15. From Grandin's mother enrolled her at Hampshire Country School in Rindge, New Hampshire. That school was founded in 1948 by Boston child psychologist, Henry Patey, for the students of "exceptional potential (gifted) that have not been successful in a typical setting". She was accepted there and became Winter Carnival Queen and captain of the hockey team. This was a space in which she felt safe, represented, and encouraged. All of which led to the further developments of her "squeeze machine", that later became a hug machine which takes into account the sensitivities of animals and the perception of these animal based needs. Grandin's sensory processing disorder has been insurmountable in her work involving animal science and welfare through her thoughtful and humane animal-handling equipment, as well as her work towards autism rights. 

“I call you ‘non-disabled’...because the likelihood of you acquiring a disability, temporarily or permanently, is statistically very high.” Judy Heumann

Judy Heumann, was born December 18th 1947 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Heumann became a disability rights activist at a very young age,  fighting for the recognition, respect, and the rights of disabled people as well as herself. She never viewed herself as disabled in the same lens as society, wanting instead to normalize disabilities by removing the stigmas and barriers against it as this is a natural part of life that can happen to anyone.

Born from Jewish parents that had immigrated from Nazi Germany in the mid 1930's, her family was not new to the realities of discrimination and the hardening effects of it. Heumann contracted polio at the age of two, eventually losing her ability to walk. Since this disease had no vaccine at the time and could result in paralysis, many people feared contracting it and would typically shun those who had polio believing it to be contagious. Because of this, Heumann's family had to fight extremely hard for Judy to not be discriminated against, particularly in a school setting. When Heumann attempted to start kindergarten she was physically stopped from doing so because the school viewed her disability as a safety hazard, which is a problem many disabled children faced. After a long fight led by her mother, Heumann was able to attend a special school and a public high school. Her fight with the education system continued on to college with her leading a protest for the implementation of ramps that would make classes more accessible for people. In the 1970's  she battled the New York Board of Education after they refused to give her a teaching license because they were afraid she could not evacuate herself or her students in case of a fire alongside other perceived safety hazards and discriminatory practices. She sued and the NYBOE settled ending with her getting a job and becoming the first teacher in the state to use a wheelchair.

 In 1983, Heumann co-founded the World Institute on Disability (this is one of the first global disability rights organizations that is founded and led by people with disabilities), when she lived in Washington D.C she became the  Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in the Clinton Administration from 1993-2001, from 2002-2006 she worked at the World Bank as their first Advisor on Disability and Development, and in 2010, Heumann became the first Special Advisor on Disability Rights for the U.S. State Department. Heumann took a part in a number of demonstrations, organized numerous protests, helped develop legislation that supported the rights of disabled people, won awards and fellowships, and more.

Before her passing in 2023 Judy Heumann was involved in almost every pivotal moment of the disability rights movement, dubbing her as the "mother" of the movement. Overall Heumann is credited for improving accessibility and opportunities for an estimated 56 million people in the United States and around one billion people around the world with disabilities.

Our Fight For Disability Rights and Why It's Not Over Yet

Four decades ago, Judith Heumann helped to lead a groundbreaking protest called the Section 504 sit-in -- in which disabled-rights activists occupied a federal building for almost a month, demanding greater accessibility for all. In this personal, inspiring talk, Heumann tells the stories behind the protest -- and reminds us that, 40 years on, there's still work left to do. 

Author, lecturer, and crusader for the handicapped.

Born physically normal in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing at the age of nineteen months to an illness now believed to have been scarlet fever. Five years later, on the advice of Alexander Graham Bell, her parents applied to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston for a teacher, and from that school hired Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Through Sullivan's extraordinary instruction, the little girl learned to understand and communicate with the world around her. She went on to acquire an excellent education and to become an important influence on the treatment of the blind and deaf.

Keller learned from Sullivan to read and write in Braille and to use the hand signals of the deaf-mute, which she could understand only by touch. Her later efforts to learn to speak were less successful, and in her public appearances she required the assistance of an interpreter to make herself understood. Nevertheless, her impact as educator, organizer, and fund-raiser was enormous, and she was responsible for many advances in public services to the handicapped.

With Sullivan repeating the lectures into her hand, Keller studied at schools for the deaf in Boston and New York City and graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1904. Her unprecedented accomplishments in overcoming her disabilities made her a celebrity at an early age; at twelve she published an autobiographical sketch in the Youth's Companion, and during her junior year at Radcliffe she produced her first book, The Story of My Life, still in print in over fifty languages. Keller published four other books of her personal experiences as well as a volume on religion, one on contemporary social problems, and a biography of Anne Sullivan. She also wrote numerous articles for national magazines on the prevention of blindness and the education and special problems of the blind.

In addition to her many appearances on the lecture circuit, Keller in 1918 made a movie in Hollywood, Deliverance, to dramatize the plight of the blind and during the next two years supported herself and Sullivan on the vaudeville stage. She also spoke and wrote in support of women's rights and other liberal causes and in 1940 strongly backed the United States’ entry into World War II.

In 1924, Keller joined the staff of the newly formed American Foundation for the Blind as an adviser and fund-raiser. Her international reputation and warm personality enabled her to enlist the support of many wealthy people, and she secured large contributions from Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and leaders of the motion picture industry. When the afb established a branch for the overseas blind, it was named Helen Keller International. Keller and Sullivan were the subjects of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Miracle Worker, by William Gibson, which opened in New York in 1959 and became a successful Hollywood film in 1962.

Widely honored throughout the world and invited to the White House by every U.S. president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson, Keller altered the world's perception of the capacities of the handicapped. More than any act in her long life, her courage, intelligence, and dedication combined to make her a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.

Brad Lomax (1950-1984), a Civil Rights leader and disability rights activist, brought together the two movements to present a united front in the fight for equity. 

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his teens, Lomax founded the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and organized the first African Liberation Day demonstration in 1972. A move to Oakland, California, where Lomax was unable to access public buses without being physically lifted onto them, launched his participation in the disability rights movement. 

In 1975, Lomax worked with Ed Roberts, the founder of the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, to open another CIL site in East Oakland with support from the BPP. His activism led to increased awareness within the BPP of the disability rights movement, making him the cornerstone of a partnership built on solidarity. 

When, in 1977, disability rights activists staged a sit-in in San Francisco’s federal office building to urge the government to implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Lomax was there. Alongside his fellow activists, he camped out in the building for three weeks despite the government’s decision to shut off the building’s water supply and phone lines. 

When Lomax urged the local BPP to help, they quickly mobilized, delivering food and essential supplies to the protesters throughout the sit-in. According to other protesters, the sit-in would have quickly fizzled out without this assistance.

The Black Panthers covered the events extensively, drawing further attention to the cause—and they covered Lomax’s costs to travel to Washington, D.C. to put further pressure on the government. Their efforts succeeded, and Section 504 was signed into law on April 28, 1977. 

While Brad Lomax sadly died at the age of 33, his legacy has lived on, paving the way for decades of activism that have radically transformed disabled people’s opportunities and access.

Ed Roberts born January 23rd 1939 was an American Disability rights activist who is considered to be the founder of the Independent-Living Movement. Roberts was not considered disabled until he contracted Polio at the age of 14 in 1953. After spending 18 months in the hospital Roberts returned home paralyzed from the neck down outside of being able to move two fingers on one hand and several toes in addition to being dependent on a ventilator to breathe. The aftermath of this led to him feeling a deep fear over being stared at which greatly affected his personal identity as well as his schooling due to not wanting to be viewed or treated as a "helpless cripple". He credits his mom for helping him transform his self identity from one that is defined by others to one that is entirely dependent on himself and his ability to fight for what he needed.

His career as an advocate can be traced back to high school after administration had threatened to withhold his diploma because he was unable to receive a drivers license and complete his physical education training due to his disability. This was disputed after his mother petitioned the school board overturning their initial refusal to let him graduate. Having his mother fight for him during his early developmental years helped him learn to advocate for himself as he continued his educational and professional career. This can be seen through his struggle to attend college after his time at the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation where his rehabilitation counselor stated that he believed him to be severely disabled to the point that he would never be able to get a job or complete anything of a similar caliber. These sentiments were supported by the administrators of his college, UC Berkeley, where one dean famously commented, "We've tried cripples before and it didn't work.". Roberts had to fight to receive support from his rehabilitation center to attend UC Berkley and once he got in to college he had to fight to to have a space that would properly serve him. This included organizing with other students to gain better accessibility on campus and in the community such as ramps and curb cuts. 

Roberts fight for accessibility and inclusionary practices for disabled people continued well into his adult life and is most famously seen through his participation in the 504 Sit-in. During this protest he spoke to motivate the crowds of people and testified along with other protestors during a congressional hearing. All of which contributed to section 504 was signed into law and became fully implemented under President Nixon. 

Roberts dedication to dismantling physical barriers that prevent disabled people from being included in society helped shape access regulations that became the basis of a worldwide revolution in civic architecture. He focused on targeting paternalistic practices that keep disabled people from controlling their own lives and segregates them off from the majority of society.

Ed Roberts: Free Wheeling

A mini documentary on the life of Ed Roberts from the TV show 60 minutes

Known as the “Moses of her people,” Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery at the age of twenty-nine and then spent years as the first woman “conductor” on the Underground Railroad helping others achieve the same freedom she had gained. She was also a nurse, a Union spy during the Civil War, and a women's suffrage supporter. She is considered the first African American woman to serve in the military and remains one of the most inspirational figures in American history.

Born Araminta Ross, the daughter of parents who had been brought from Africa in chains, Tubman had eight siblings. By the age of five, her owners rented her out to neighbors as a domestic servant and later as a field hand. At the age of twelve, she intervened to keep her master from beating an enslaved man who tried to escape. She was hit in the head with a two-pound weight, leaving her with a lifetime of severe headaches and narcolepsy. Although not legally allowed to marry, she entered a marital union with John Tubman, a free black man, in 1844, taking his last name and dubbing herself Harriet.

In 1849, after her master died, Tubman feared that she would be sold away from her family, and she fled to Philadelphia. Later, she went even farther north to Ontario, Canada. Although now free, Tubman said that her heart was still “down in the old cabin quarters, with the old folk and my brothers and sisters.” Over the next ten years, she made nineteen trips to the South to lead others, including her aged parents and her sister and brothers, to freedom. Her success made her a target, and slave owners placed a $40,000 reward for her capture or death. Proud that she never “lost a passenger,” Tubman was personally responsible for leading more than three hundred slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad—the network of safe houses where abolitionists assisted runaway slaves in their journey out of bondage.

Because of Tubman's expert knowledge of the towns and transportation routes in the South, she worked during the Civil War as a Union spy and scout. Often transforming herself into an aged woman, Tubman would travel behind enemy lines and learn from the enslaved population about Confederate troop movements and supply lines. She also became a respected guerilla operative and nurse to black and white soldiers stricken with infection and disease.

After the war, she helped to establish schools for freedmen in North Carolina as well as the Harriet Tubman Home for Indigent Aged Negroes on twenty-five acres of land she purchased adjacent to her home in Auburn, New York. She joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in their campaign for women's suffrage. In 1895, thirty years after the end of the Civil War, the government granted Tubman a pension of twenty dollars a month in recognition for her unpaid war work. She remained active in the cause of black women's rights serving as a delegate to the first convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in 1896. She spent her final years in poverty, dying of pneumonia at the age of ninety-three. She was buried with military honors in Auburn, New York.

Alice Wong was born March 27th in1974 and is a disability rights activist, writer, editor, and community organizer. She is most known for being the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, which is an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014. This online community has done a wonderful job of amplifying the knowledge and celebration of disability culture. While there are around 61 million people with disabilities in America, there is very little accurate representation if any at all. This platform serves to create a body of history and knowledge about the lives and experiences of those who are disabled. Preserving the lives and experiences of this underrepresented group in a way that is not always done. Making sure people with disability are represented and included through their own stories is extremely important to Wong. She spent a good chunk of her adolescents trying to blend in with everyone else as she was usually the only physically disabled student in her class, in addition to being one of the only Asian-American students. This led to struggles with internalized racism and accepting her disability.

Today, Wong is not uncomfortable to telling her own story which begins with her parents that immigrated from Hong Kong to America to raise their family. Wong herself was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a condition where certain nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord break down, causing progressive weakness and atrophy in the muscles in the trunk of the body. She stopped walking around the age of seven or eight. Today, she uses a motorized wheelchair and a BPAP machine (an assistive ventilator device). Wong attended Indiana University at Indianapolis, where she studied English and sociology. Being in such a space allowed her to explore disability scholarship and history, all of which led to her attending grad school where she chaired the Disability Interest Group. University life and her personal experiences helped her become an activist and organizer for Asian-Americans and those with disabilities.  For her leadership on behalf of the disability community alone, Wong received the Mayor's Disability Council Beacon Award in 2010, the first-ever Chancellor's Disability Service Award in 2010, and the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award at her alma mater of UCSF. Wong has earned countless other awards and accolades. She has been a partner in four other disability access projects: DisabledWriters.com, a website that connects editors with disabled writers and journalists, written on disability issues that have been published in various media outlets, and has published a memoir.

Wong's work in intersectional advocacy for the disability community and the Asian American community through her efforts as an activist and writer has only continued to encourage people to tell their own stories and led to the improvement of others life.