






Judith Ellen “Judy” Heumann (1947–2023) was verified through her official biography, National Women’s History Museum, and her official memorial statement. These sources confirm that she contracted polio as a young child, used a wheelchair, was excluded from school as a “fire hazard,” fought denial of a teaching license, helped lead the 1977 Section 504 sit-in, advanced disability-rights law and access, and died on March 4, 2023. Her worth is infrastructural: she helped force public life to make room for disabled people as a civil-rights obligation.






