Heumann's early struggles prepared her for the New York
City Board of Education's refusal to allow her to teach, which was based solely
on the fact she was disabled. Heumann sued and won. She taught elementary
school for three years. It was due to this incident that Heumann, with several
other disabled friends, founded Disabled in Action. Its goal was to secure
protection for the disabled under civil rights laws.
Disabled in Action was only the first of a long string of
organizations which Heumann would be actively involved with. She became a
legislative assistant to the chairperson of the senate committee on Labor and
Public Welfare in 1974. While there she helped develop legislation that became
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. From 1975 through 1982 Heumann
served as the deputy director of the Center for Independent Living.
From 1982 to 1983 she was the special assistant to the
executive director of California’s State Department of Rehabilitation. There
she helped design, and administer the departments policies and programs. In
1983 Heumann co-founded the World Institute on Disabilities (WID) with Ed
Roberts. For more than ten years she was the vice president of WID and director
of its Research and Training Center on Public Policy in Independent Living
division.
In 1990 she helped draft the landmark piece of legislation,
The Americans with Disabilities Act. She has also helped develop regulations
for the section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. She helped design federal and
state legislation that led to the creation of more than 200 independent living
centers nationwide. She is the co-founder of the American Coalition of Citizens
with Disabilities.
Heumann has served on many boards of directors including:
the National Rehabilitation Association, the National Advisory Council of the
Center for Women’s Policy Studies, and the National Council on Independent
Living, Tools for Living in the Community. She was recently appointed by
President Clinton as a member of the delegation to the fourth United Nations
World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. She is also the receiver of many
awards including the Henry B. Betts Award.
Judy Heumann is truly a dedicated advocate and reformer for
the disabled. She has dedicated her life to righting the wrongs done to the
disabled. Since 1993 she has been the Assistant Secretary of Education in
charge of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation. She is currently
married to Jorge Pineda and is living in Washington, D.C.
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