The Art of Changing Course

CHAPTER 8Step 3: Communicated to Broadcast

KEY TASKS FROM THIS CHAPTER:

• Separate your identity from your past habits.
• Decide what habits your ideal self would have.
• Model that behavior for yourself and others.
• Celebrate the small wins fast and frequently.

Judy Huemann contracted polio at 18 months old, taking her ability to walk and requiring her to use a wheelchair. At the time, in 1949, no one could have expected Judy to become “the mother of the disability rights movement.” Legal protections for people with disabilities didn't exist yet, but systemic barriers did. At 5 years old, Judy was denied access to her elementary school, which declared her a “fire hazard” because of her wheelchair. Instead, all they could spare was two and a half hours of home education a week. Discrimination and exclusion didn't stop there for Judy. Neither did her determination to do something about it.

Even despite accessibility and societal barriers, Judy graduated college determined to become a teacher yet was denied her teaching license by the New York Board of Education. The grounds? Solely because she was in a wheelchair. Judy sued the board, winning the case to not only become the first teacher in New York who used a wheelchair but mark a historical turning point toward the rights of people with disabilities.

Judy went on to marry Jorge Pineda, who also happened to be a wheelchair user, and together their love and partnership further dismantled the stigmas and tragedy attached to people ...