« Budget cuts outdo adds for NY | Main | New York Health Care Industry Says It Faces $1.2 Billion in Cutbacks Under Bush Plan »
February 08, 2006
Breaking Down Barriers: Disability rights pioneer to speak
"It's hard to think there'd be a [disability rights] movement without [Ms. Heumann]," said Katherine Seelman, associate dean for disability programs at Pitt's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, co-sponsor of the lecture.
Born in Philadelphia in 1947 and raised in Brooklyn, Ms. Heumann contracted polio when she was 18 months old.
Like many disabled children of that time, she was denied access to public school, and her parents had to fight for her admission. As a young college graduate, she encountered another round of discrimination when she sought a teaching position in the New York Public Schools; she successfully sued the New York Board of Education.
Posted by Michelle at February 8, 2006 06:37 PM