Letters and Politics

KPFA Special – Homage to Judy Heumann; Disability Rights Pioneer

Guest: Judy Heumann (1947- 2023) was a pioneering disability rights activist and international advisory on disability, on the history of the disability rights movement.

Judy was a founding member of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living which was the first grassroots center in the United States and helped to launch the Independent Living Movement both nationally and globally.  In 1983, Judy co-founded the World Institute on Disability (WID) with Ed Roberts and Joan Leon, as one of the first global disability rights organizations founded and continually led by people with disabilities that works to fully integrate people with disabilities into the communities around them via research, policy, and consulting efforts.

Photo credit: Judith Heumann website, & ACLU.