Judy Heumann, the “Jewish mother of the disability movement,” passed away in 2023. Now she’s the topic of a new Apple Original Films biopic, starring actress Ruth Madeley as Heumann and Mark Ruffalo as former Health, Education and Welfare secretary Joseph A. Califano Jr.
“Being Heumann” will be directed by Siân Heder, the director behind the award-winning film “CODA,” which starred another history-making Jewish woman, Marlee Matlin. The movie is based on Heumann’s bestselling autobiography “Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.” Heumann serves as posthumous producer along with her co-writer Kristen Joiner. Heder adapted the book into a script with help from “Sitting Pretty” author Rebekah Taussig.
The film will focus on Heumann’s leadership in the 26-day sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Health, Education and Welfare Building in 1977. Heumann, along with other disabled protestors, remained in the building to demand that the government enforce Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which required making all federal spaces accessible. It remains, to this day, the longest sit-in in a federal building in the nation’s history. Heumann and her fellow activists travelled to Washington, D.C. where Califano, who initially refused to sign for the regulations, eventually signed them into law.
Heumann was born to German Jewish immigrant parents in Philadelphia and spent most of her childhood in New York City. At 18 months, she was disabled due to polio.
Her parents fought to have her attend school when public school deemed her attendance would be a fire hazard. As an adult, Heumann sued the Board of Education for discrimination when she was denied a teaching license because the board claimed she wouldn’t be able to help her students evacuate in case of a fire. That suit gained national coverage and revealed to Heumann other stories of discrimination that led her and her friends to found Disability in Action — DIA.
Heumann fought for disability rights until her last day. She worked for the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in the Department of Education, and later became the Obama administration’s Special Advisor on International Disability Rights for the U.S. Department of State, the first to hold that role.
In 2021, she started a podcast called “The Heumann Perspective, which she recorded until her death — the last episode of the show was released posthumously, and featured an interview with Gloria Steinem. Heumann’s story is also featured in the excellent 2020 Netflix documentary “Crip Camp” about the camp for disabled teens she attended, Camp Jened.
Judaism was always at the center of Heumann’s life and activism. As her friend and fellow activist Naomi Hess wrote for Hey Alma, “Judy was proud to be Jewish; she was a longtime member of Adas Israel, the synagogue near her Washington, D.C. apartment, where I attended her memorial service. She knew that religious spaces were important, and, because of her faith, she pushed her own synagogue and others to better incorporate accessibility into their practices.”
British actress Ruth Madeley (“Years and Years,” “Doctor Who”) who will play Heumann in this new movie was born with spina bifida, and like Heumann is a wheelchair user. She posted about the role on Instagram and wrote that playing the “Mother of disability rights” was the “honour of a lifetime.”
She also shared a moving quote from Heumann herself: “Change never happens at the pace we think it should. It happens over years of people joining together, strategizing, sharing, and pulling all the levers they possibly can. Gradually, excruciatingly slowly, things start to happen, and then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something will tip.”
Heumann’s life work continues to be vital. Just last month, an attempt by Texas and 16 other states to overturn Section 504 was overruled, but the fight for and the threat against disability protections continues. It’s why it feels so important to honor the legacy and story of a giant like Heumann. I can’t wait to see her amazing story on the big screen.
May her memory be for a blessing and a revolution.
