Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
Being Heumann, the new film directed by Siân Heder, opened the Toronto International Film Festival with the story of People with Disabilities who took action after years of waiting on their civil rights. Ruth Madeley plays Judy Heumann, who led the 1977 protest. Section 504, part of a 1973 law called the Rehabilitation Act, was the first federal civil rights guarantee for People with Disabilities. Four years after it was signed, the government had still done nothing to enforce it. So Heumann led a large crowd of protesters into the federal health, education, and welfare offices in San Francisco. They held those offices for 28 days, longer than any occupation of a federal office in the country's history.
The harm behind this protest reached into daily life. The film opens with Heumann steering her wheelchair along crowded city streets as a bus driver blasts his horn at her. That scene shows the barriers People with Disabilities met in places with little regard for access. When the activists finally sat face to face with government representatives, they testified about years of being denied schooling. They described being refused jobs they were fully qualified to do. They spoke for countless People with Disabilities who had no access to services and were kept inside their homes, unseen. These were basic human rights, denied until protections were in place. Hale Zukas, a leader in the Berkeley independent living movement who communicated with a head pointer and an alphabet board, puts it plainly: disability is not the tragedy, only a tremendous hassle.
Their victory came from a coalition. People who are Blind, People who are Deaf, and People who use Wheelchairs joined forces. They held together through heated arguments among themselves and through political pressure and bullying. Brad Lomax, who belonged to the Black Panthers and had multiple sclerosis, called in fellow Black Panthers to deliver food. Kitty Cone pressed for civility, and over time she and Heumann became friends. Reporter Evan White covered the protest from inside the occupied building, and national networks carried his stories. The protesters faced a frightening late night police raid and still kept their humor and joy. The official blocking the regulations had claimed their $2.4 billion cost called for more review, but he finally gave in to the pressure and signed. The film never lets allies become saviors, because Heumann's coalition drove the change for millions of People with Disabilities.
A right on paper means little until the people denied it act together. The film casts Actors with Disabilities as the members of Heumann's coalition. Heder made the same choice in her earlier film CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), where Actors who are Deaf played Deaf characters. The film asks whether protest and acting together still matter. It opens in theaters November 6 and streams on Apple TV starting November 13. Its timing is sharp, because current federal efforts aim to weaken the very protections the coalition won. People with Disabilities belong at the center of the stories and plans that concern them, shaping the work from the first decision. Too often, our own planning still leaves them outside those decisions.
Like the cast of this film, the people in our program roles include qualified People with Disabilities. We stand with them as allies, never as saviors. Their leadership builds Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities for People with Disabilities.
When People with Disabilities lead, rights on paper become real in Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities.
Read the Full Article: 'Being Heumann' Review: Siân Heder's Drama About the Fight for Disability Rights Strikes Familiar Notes but Gets the Uplift Job Done.
By: David Rooney
