As featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp and for readers of I Am Malala one
of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her story of fighting
to belong. If I didn t fight who would? Judy Heumann was only 5 years old when she was first
denied her right to attend school. Paralyzed from polio and raised by her Holocaust-surviving
parents in New York City Judy had a drive for equality that was instilled early in life. In
this young readers edition of her acclaimed memoir Being Heumann Judy shares her journey of
battling for equal access in an unequal world from fighting to attend grade school after being
described as a fire hazard because of her wheelchair to suing the New York City school system
for denying her a teacher s license because of her disability. Judy went on to lead 150
disabled people in the longest sit-in protest in US history at the San Francisco Federal
Building. Cut off from the outside world the group slept on office floors faced down bomb
threats and risked their lives to win the world s attention and the first civil rights
legislation for disabled people. Judy s bravery persistence and signature rebellious streak
will speak to every person fighting to belong and fighting for social justice.
