Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,03 Aug 2020,44 mins

The 25 day sit-in that changed history

Outlook

Available for over a year

When Judy Heumann was growing up in the 1950s, expectations for someone like her were low. Her disability wasn't her main problem, it was other people's prejudices. Judy Heumann was the first person in a wheelchair to become a teacher in New York, and she went on to dedicate her life to fighting discrimination. In April 1977, she helped orchestrate the longest ever occupation of a federal building in the history of the US. As a result of that, important regulations were brought in which made it both illegal and costly to discriminate against disabled people in many areas. And those regulations paved the way for further victories. Her book is called Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist. Picture: Judy Heumann. Credit: Rick Guidotti/Positive Exposure.

Programme Website
More episodes