With an energetic pace and a youthful voice, Ali Stroker narrates disability rights activist Judith Heumann's memoir. The audiobook spans the author's life as a polio survivor who started out having to face wheelchair barriers at home, in her neighborhood, at school, and at university. Heumann and Stroker both prove engaging as Heumann recounts how her forbearance with limitations ran out and she turned to political activism that eventually led to the now 30-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act. She was also involved with CRIP CAMP, a current Netflix documentary. Along with her friend and mentor, the late Ed Roberts, Heumann is a freedom fighter Americans need to know. This audiobook makes getting acquainted a delight. F.M.R.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
Narrated by Ali Stroker
Judith HeumannUnabridged — 6 hours, 38 minutes
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
Narrated by Ali Stroker
Judith HeumannUnabridged — 6 hours, 38 minutes
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Overview
Tony-award winning actress Ali Stroker reads the story of Judy Heumann—one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history
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.
Editorial Reviews
★ 02/17/2020
In this empowering debut, disability rights activist Heumann reveals her indomitable spirit as she battled prejudice and discrimination to gain equal opportunity. Recognizing that Americans with disabilities were “generally invisible in the daily life of society,” Heumann, who was paralyzed by polio at 18 months in 1949, fought for inclusion in everyday activities, believing “it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that everyone could participate equally in our society.” Fighting to go to elementary school in Brooklyn after being called “a fire hazard,” she first attended a segregated special education class before attending regular high school. Heumann attended Long Island University, where she led various student protests; after college, she won a lawsuit against the New York City Board of Education for denying her a teacher’s license because of her condition. In 1977, she helped organize a 24-day sit-in at the San Francisco office of U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which pressured the Carter administration to finally execute protections for disabled people, eventually leading to passage of the American with Disabilities Act (“since we’d been left out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we needed our own Civil Rights Act”). Thoughtful and illuminating, this inspiring story is a must-read for activists and civil rights supporters. (Feb.)
"Thoughtful and illuminating, this inspiring story is a must-read for activists and civil rights supporters."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
--Kirkus Reviews "Consider this book an inspiring call for inclusiveness, courage, equity, and justice as well as a reminder of people's power to change the world for the better."
--Booklist "Heumann's personality shines throughout. Her voice is witty, persistent, and at times irreverent as she immerses readers in her story."
--Library Journal "With an energetic pace and a youthful voice, Ali Stroker narrates disability rights activist Judith Heumann's memoir. . . . Along with her friend and mentor, the late Ed Roberts, Heumann is a freedom fighter Americans need to know. This audiobook makes getting acquainted a delight."
--AudioFile Magazine "Reading this memoir is like sitting down with a good friend and talking for hours, as self-described extrovert Heumann tells powerful and engaging stories from the frontlines of the disability civil rights movement."
--Health Affairs "A moving chronicle of social change, Being Heumann will restore your hope in our democracy and the power of our shared humanity."
--Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation "Judy's advocacy for disability rights began as a fight for her own future and then, as a leader of the movement, spanned the nation and the globe. As secretary of state, I relied on Judy's insights, knowledge, sass, and wit to elevate advocacy for disability rights in our diplomacy. This important book will help ensure that every person gets a chance to live up to their full potential and will always have a place at the table."
--Hillary Clinton "It's one of the ironies of American life that the one category into which almost all of us will fit at some time in our lives--people with disabilities--is often the last on the list of included groups in this country. . . . I met Judy Heumann almost four decades ago, and her writing, activist skills, and kindness helped me to see this simple truth. Her life story as an activist will enlighten readers everywhere."
--Gloria Steinem "Judy's vision of a society that embraces all aspects of the human condition and where we face adversity with wisdom is truly transformative. . . . All who read her book will be better for it."
--Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, author of Lean In "Judy's story has shaken me to the core. For the first time, I see myself in someone else. Her fierce advocacy and work changing the laws around disability rights have undeniably paved the way for me to achieve what I have today. . . . A must-read."
--Ali Stroker, Tony Award-winning actress "A marvelous memoir by a disability hero who has paved the way for many of us. Full of fascinating stories from the disability rights movement, this book will guide future leaders as we work toward a barrier-free world."
--Haben Girma, author of the bestseller Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law "Being Heumann changed me. This clear-eyed, gripping book is necessary reading for anyone in a body. Judy Heumann is a true heroine: practical, courageous, and totally badass."
--Sharon Guskin, author of The Forgetting Time "Full of stories of triumph, love, and total badassery, Being Heumann is a look into a world and moment in history that very few know or appreciate. You don't have to have a disability to completely relate to Judy's story. Haven't all of us been dismissed by others at some point in our lives? Readers will finish this book with a whole new perspective on people with disabilities and on their own lives too. Judy doesn't just believe in the power of community and the potential of democracy to deliver equality and justice--she and her many friends and allies set out to prove, against all odds, that it is true. Their epic struggle to achieve civil rights protections for people with disabilities has remade our world, whether we realize it or not. Intimate and engrossing, this book is a profound gift. It should be read and cherished by all, as both an unforgettable portrait of one of our greatest activists and a road map for how to build a more just and inclusive world."
--Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, directors of Crip Camp "For everyone who cares about human rights around the world, Judith Heumann's moving story and message of belonging is also a powerful call to action. A must read."
--Yetnebersh Nigussie, disability rights activist "If you're searching for an excellent primer on the disability justice movement or a firsthand account of the power of the collective voice, you'll want to pick up this book!"
--Jey Ehrenhalt, Teaching Tolerance School-Based Programming and Grants Manager
02/01/2020
Heumann shares her story as a lifelong disability rights advocate, from her mother's fight for her daughter's right to get an education to Heumann's time in the White House as the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. In this memoir, she shares her frustrations at a world that was not built with everyone in mind, a world that frequently sought to exclude her and others like her from active participation in society. Instead of stewing in frustration, Heumann embarked on a lifelong journey to dismantle the ableist society and create a more accessible world. Heumann's personality shines throughout. Her voice is witty, persistent, and at times irreverent as she immerses readers in her story and highlights how similar we all are. Her tale is one of perseverance against discrimination, and the right of all people to pursue a full and fulfilling life. VERDICT Ideal for readers interested in the history of the disability rights movement and the impact of personal activism.—Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis P.L.
With an energetic pace and a youthful voice, Ali Stroker narrates disability rights activist Judith Heumann's memoir. The audiobook spans the author's life as a polio survivor who started out having to face wheelchair barriers at home, in her neighborhood, at school, and at university. Heumann and Stroker both prove engaging as Heumann recounts how her forbearance with limitations ran out and she turned to political activism that eventually led to the now 30-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act. She was also involved with CRIP CAMP, a current Netflix documentary. Along with her friend and mentor, the late Ed Roberts, Heumann is a freedom fighter Americans need to know. This audiobook makes getting acquainted a delight. F.M.R.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
2019-11-20
A driving force in the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act looks back on a long career of activism.
"An Occupation Army of Cripples Has Taken Over the San Francisco Federal Building." So shouted a newspaper headline in the wake of one particularly vocal protest. According to disability rights activist Heumann, that was fine. "People weren't used to thinking of us as fighters—when they thought about us at all," she observes. Until the 1980s, disabled people were largely made invisible, with no easy means of access to the systems of transportation, employment, and other goods that the rest of the population often takes for granted. The author, who was paralyzed after a bout of childhood polio, might have been shunted off to an institution, as one doctor recommended, which was the usual practice in 1949. Instead, her parents, orphans of the Holocaust, resisted. The system did not make much allowance for her outside such an institution. At first, she was taught by a teacher who came to her home for two and a half hours a week, then sent to "Health Conservation 21," a New York school system program in which students were expected to remain "until we were twenty-one years old, at which point we were supposed to enter a sheltered workshop." Instead, Heumann distinguished herself academically and got involved in the drafting of legislation that would effectively add disability to the classes of protected citizens under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. To do so, she had to make the case that "discrimination against disabled people existed," something that many people did not wish to acknowledge. Then she had to find allies inside government on top of battling a host of foes, including conservative politicians and businesses "worried about what ADA would cost, in time and money." Heumann prevailed, and following passage of the ADA after years of agitation, she worked for the World Bank and was appointed a representative of the Obama administration to advance civil rights for disabled persons internationally.
A welcome account of politics in action, and for the best of causes.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940177222547 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 05/19/2020 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 793,473 |
Read an Excerpt
PROLOGUE
I never wished I didn't have a disability.
I’m fairly certain my parents didn’t either. I never asked them, but if I had, I don’t think they would have said that our lives would have been better if I hadn’t had a disability. They accepted it and moved forward. That was who they were. That was their way. They deliberately decided not to tell me what the doctor had advised when I recovered from polio and it became clear I was never going to walk again. It wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I discovered what he’d suggested.“I recommend that you place her in an institution,” he said.
It wasn’t personal. It didn’t have anything to do with our fam-ily being German immigrants. Nor was it ill intentioned. I am sure he sincerely believed that the very best thing for these young parents to do would be to have their two-year-old child raised in an institution.In many ways, institutionalization was the status quo in 1949. Parents weren’t necessarily even encouraged to visit their insti-tutionalized children. Kids with disabilities were considered a hardship, economically and socially. They brought stigma to the family. People thought that when someone in your family had a disability it was because someone had done something wrong.
I don't know how my parents responded to the doctor, because my family didn’t talk a lot about things like this. But I am sure my parents would have found the idea of putting me in an insti-tution very disturbing. Both my mother and my father had been made orphans by the Holocaust. As teenagers they’d been sent to the United States. It was the time when Hitler was coming into power, when things were getting bad enough that people worried about the safety of their children but didn’t think it was going to get as bad as it did. My father came to live with an uncle in Brooklyn at fourteen, and he was lucky that his three brothers followed very soon after. My mother was an only child and was sent alone to live in Chicago with someone she didn’t know at all. The story was that a distant relative came from the States to visit my mother’s family in Germany and brought news of the worsen-ing situation.
The information convinced my grandparents to send my mother, their one child, away to live with this distant relative. I have often imagined what it must have felt like for my mother. You’re twelve years old and one day someone you don’t know, someone you’ve never met before, comes to visit your family and two weeks later you’re suddenly gone from Germany forever, living alone in Chicago with unfamiliar people. My mother always thought that her family would be together again. Even during the war, she was working to save money to bring her parents over. Only later did she learn that they’d been killed. IF I’D BEEN born just ten years earlier and become disabled in Germany, it is almost certain that the German doctor would also have advised that I be institutionalized. The difference is that in-stead of growing up being fed by nurses in a small room with white walls and a roommate, I would have been taken to a special clinic, and at that special clinic, I would have been killed.Before Auschwitz and Dachau, there were institutions where disabled children were eliminated. Hitler’s pilot project for what would ultimately become mass genocide started with disabled children. Doctors encouraged the parents to hand their young children over to specially designated pediatric clinics, where they were either intentionally starved or given a lethal injection.
When the program expanded to include older children, the doctors ex-perimented with gassing.Five thousand children were murdered in these institutions. The Nazis considered people with disabilities a genetic and financial burden on society. Life unworthy of life.So when an authority figure in their new country, a doctor, said to my parents, “We will take your daughter out of your home and raise her,” they never would have agreed to it. They came from a country where families got separated, some children sent away, others taken from their families by the authorities and never returned—all as part of a campaign of systematic dehumanization and murder.Their daughter, disabled or not, wasn’t going anywhere.
MY PARENTS WEREN’T obstinate or antiauthoritarian; they were thinkers. They had learned what happens when hatred and inhu-manity are accepted. Both my father and my mother were brave people who lived by their values. They had personally experi-enced what happens when an entire country chooses not to see something simply because it is not what they wish to see. As a result, they never accepted anything at face value. When some-thing doesn’t feel right, they taught us, you must question it—whether it is an instruction from an authority or what a teacher says in class. At the same time, my parents didn’t dwell on the past or on things that were done to them.They didn’t forget the past, and they definitely learned from it, but Ilse and Werner Heumann moved forward.
Especially Ilse. She was an optimist. And a fighter. And so am I.
I can’t say I was thinking about all these things when we took over the San Francisco Federal Building, or even when I took on the New York City Board of Education. Only now, looking back, can I see how it all came together to turn me into the person I was to become.
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