Being HeumannBeing Heumann

In 1977, disability rights activist Judy Heumann campaigns for Section 504, facing Health and Human Services secretary Joseph Califano.

In 1977, as Jimmy Carter begins his presidency, Judith 'Judy' Heumann is a disability rights activist, wheelchair user and polio survivor. Ruth Madeley plays Heumann, with Mark Ruffalo as Joseph Califano, the Health and Human Services secretary who opposes the movement for the first federal civil rights law for disabled people. Heumann protests the delayed signing of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, legislation that would grant rights she was denied. She blocks traffic and makes phone calls to officials, including Congressman George Miller and Califano's department. When those efforts do not succeed, Heumann and other disabled protesters start a sit-in at the regional HEW offices in San Francisco and refuse to leave until Califano signs Section 504.

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