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Chapter Five The Struggle for Change: In the Streets and in the Courts THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL rights for people with disabilities took place with less visibility than, but in the same venues as, the battles fought by African Americansthe streets and the courts. Demonstrations were held; lawsuits were filed; new organizations sprung up. While the names associated with the disability rights movementleaders such as Judith E. Heumann, PatrishaWright , Wade Blank, MichaelAuberger, and Justin Dart, and attorneys like Sidney Wolinsky and Stephen Gold-do not resonate in the same way as, for example, Medgar Evers and Thurgood Marshall, the victories, large and small, of disability activists brought about a similar revolution. The organizations that led the way were both local and national. Disabled In Action began as a grass-roots organization in New York City. Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund was formed out of an independent living center in California. ADAPT, which shifted its focus after attaining its original goal, began in Denver. And D.C.basedJustice For All OFA) was sponsored by a wealthybusinessman with a disabilitywho was energized by an army ofactivists whom he refers to as his mentors. Although most of the organizing, demonstrating, and litigating were triggered by desires to see new laws passed and effective regulations issued and implemented, accomplishing goalssuch as the signing ofthe Section 504 regulations in1977and the passage ofthe ADA in 1990-have not marked the end ofthe battle. Disabled In Action Conceived of as a New York citywide civil rights organization committed to ending discrimination against people with all disabilities , Disabled In Action works to eliminate barriers that prevent the disabilitypopulation from enjoying full equality. DIA was born out ofthe 1970 lawsuit, brought byJudith E. Heumann-currently U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education and a quadriplegic 72 CHAPTER FIVE wheelchair user-against the New York City Board of Education when her application to obtain a teaching license was rejected because ofher disability. According to board policy, people with disabilities could not be teachers because they were deemed fire hazards . Nonetheless, Heumann decided in college that she wanted to major in education: "Thatwas both a statement that1wanted to work with children, and it was also a statement that in the New York City school system with seventy thousand people working in it, there were no disabled people who had been accepted as teachers and were disabled at the time they were certified."! Because Heumann took her oral, written, and medical examinations in buildings that were physically inaccessible, she had to be carried up and down the stairs. Although she passed the oral and written portions, she failed the medical. Heumann recollects her experience when she took the board's medical test for teachers: This woman and two other doctors (men) were in the room to examine me, so it was three to one. They asked me the most bizarre questions. Then I told them I had not brought my crutches and braces, so they marked me down as insubordinate. Then, out ofthe clear blue sky the woman said to the other doctors, "She wets her pants." That was such an insulting remark that I could not even react to it. I started to cry; again, I was so angry that I did not know what else to do. Anyway, I failed the medical part ofthe exam, needless to say. I wrote to ask the reason, and I got the reason-one sentence: "paralysis of both lower extremities, sequelae ofpoliomyelitis."2 Heumann remembers her answer to one ofthe "bizarre questions"-concerning how she used the bathroom-that she was asked during her medical examination: "She [the doctor] wanted me to show her how 1went to the bathroom, and 1remember telling her that unless it was going to be a requirement for me to teach elementary school children how to go physically to the bathroom, 1 didn't see any relevance in my showing her how 1 went to the bathroom." Undaunted by failing the board's medical examination, Heumann appealed in the late 1960s to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to act on her behalf Heumann recalls: The ACLU said there was no reason for me to come down for an interview because it was not a case ofdiscrimination that they felt they could win in court. It was purely a medical decision, and no judge was going to rule in my favor on an issue like that. I remember those scenes so vividly; I remember trying to talk to this...

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