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From the independent living movement there was the focused, kind and persistent Judy Heumann. She’s been a wheelchair user most of her life. Denied early access to education because her wheelchair was a “fire hazard,” her mother fought to have her included. Judy went on not only to academic success but also to become a major leader on ADA issues and beyond. In the decades since the ADA she has taken the fight for dignity and equality for people with disabilities global. She played a major role at the World Bank, and is the top official at the U.S. Department of State working on disability issues around the world.
Arlene Meyerson has been called “the brains” of the ADA operation. A brilliant legal advocate, she has brought together literally hundreds of disability advocates and organizations over decades on a variety of disability issues. She wrote, “While some in the media portray this new era (ADA) as falling from the sky unannounced, the thousands of men and women in the disability rights movement know that these rights were hard fought for and are long overdue. The ADA is radical only in comparison to a shameful history of outright exclusion and segregation of people with disabilities. From a civil rights perspective the Americans with Disabilities Act is a codification of simple justice.”