Our Team

Judith (Judy) Heumann is a lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people. She contracted polio in 1949 in Brooklyn, NY and began to experience discrimination at 5 years old when she was denied the right to attend school because she was a "fire hazard." Her parents played a strong role in fighting for her rights as a child. Judy determined that she, working in collaboration with other disabled people, had to play an increasing advocacy role as she and others experienced continuous discrimination because of their disabilities. She is now an internationally recognized leader in the disability rights community and a lifelong civil rights advocate. President Obama appointed Judy as the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State, where she served from 2010-2017. Mayor Fenty, District of Columbia, appointed her as the first Director for the Department on Disability Services, where she was responsible for the Developmental Disability Administration and the Rehabilitation Services Administration. From June 2002- 2006, Judy served as the World Bank's first Adviser on Disability and Development. In this position, she led the World Bank's disability work to expand the Bank’s knowledge and capability to work with governments and civil society on including disability in the global conversation. From 1993 to 2001, Judy served in the Clinton Administration as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education. She was also responsible for the implementation of legislation at the national level for programs in special education, disability research, vocational rehabilitation and independent living, serving more than 8 million youth and adults with disabilities. 1982-1993 she cofounded the World Institute on Disability with Ed Roberts and Joan Leon. WID was the think tank run by disabled people focused on research to advance the Independent Living Movement. 1973-1993 Served as a founding member of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living and then on it’s Board of Directors. CIL Berkeley was the first Center in the United States and helped to launch the Independent Living Movement in the US and around the World. Over the course of her life, Judy has been involved on the national and international front working with disabled people’s organizations and governments in the US and around the world to advance the human rights of disabled people. She has traveled using her motorized wheelchair to countries on every continent, in urban and rural communities. She has played a role in the development and implementation of major legislation including the IDEA, Section 504, the Americans with Disability Act and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.