Welcome to Litsy!

This was a fairly quick read. It starts with the joys of childhood, then the realization she was "different" and the challenges she has growing up that informed her later activism. The majority of the book detailed the San Francisco Federal Building sit-in. The third act was a rapid fire listing of the rest of her career. ⬇️

This was our July #SheSaid book and I‘m glad our group spurred me to finally read it. This book really helped me learn about Judy Heumann‘s life and work. It goes into a lot of detail about the sit-in and U.S. Capitol steps protest that she helped lead, and how the ADA and other laws changed expectations for accommodations in this country. I am just young enough to not know much of what things were like before that, so this was eye-opening.

An excellent #SheSaid memoir of a persistent disability rights advocate from the 60s to last year. Neumann lived with polio, was part of a formative youth camp for disabled teens and dedicated her life to collaborating on causes such as the first U.S. federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities, obtained through a nation-wide protest and one-month sit-in in 1977. Passion, diversity, dedication.
#Nonfiction2023 #Imagine

Heumann does a great job sharing her personal experiences, challenges, the history of the movement, and her perspective. Like many civil rights movements, so much seems obscured by time, and was new to me now. It‘s won, why teach the history? But as recent history has shown us and Heumann outlines in its final chapter…history is a very slippery slope and things can change without much fanfare if we are not vigilant and don‘t know our history.

#SheSaid

Quote: part 2

#SheSaid

Quote: part 1

You think you know all the behind the scenes stuff an administration did…and then you learn there was so much more 🫣

#SheSaid

#SheSaid

Some of the discussions at the end, about the slippery slope are alarming.

#SheSaid

Some of these quotes at the end, echo how much the tide is turning on so many long fought for civil rights issues. Disability included.

#SheSaid

Hello #SheSaid

This one went by fast for me, and was even better when I switched to ebook….something about the narrator was just bothering me 🤷‍♀️ (personal thing, but I felt like she was reading it as a children‘s book at times).

See you in the comments 😉

Hello #SheSaid! How‘s it going this week? Everyone catching up? I know a few of you hadn‘t gotten your copies yet last week.

repost for @Riveted_Reader_Melissa:

Hello #SheSaid! I hope you are all having a great weekend!

I am loving this book so far, the narrator is a bit overly perky at times, but I love the content, story, and message. How are you all doing with this inspirational read.

original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2611068

“The reality is, asking people to do something for you when you‘re not paying them, or they‘re not required to do it, means it‘s a favour. And doing favours for someone gets old. Favours mean that they have to stop what they‘re doing, to help you with what you‘re doing, which always feels like an interruption. At camp I didn‘t have to secretly rank what I needed in order of importance so I wasn‘t asking for too much at once.”

This. Is. My. Life.

Hello #SheSaid! I hope you are all having a great weekend!

I am loving this book so far, the narrator is a bit overly perky at times, but I love the content, story, and message. How are you all doing with this inspirational read.

July is #disabilitypride month. My career has centered around working with disabled children & families, primarily in early intervention. I also have an Autistic son. I read a lot of disability research/studies/stories. Tagged is my favorite book (July #shesaid read). Judith Heumann was an amazing trailblazer in the disability community & the US. One of my local bookstores, Brookline Booksmith, has complied a great list of books.

Next up for July #SheSaid!

Put in your library holds and interlibrary loans!

Judith Heumann sadly passed away suddenly the other day. She was such an amazing & extraordinary woman who did so much for the disability rights movement. She was a trailblazer & will sadly be missed as she had continued to do so much for the disability community.

https://judithheumann.com/

Today I got to be part of a group that watched this documentary and then had some seriously inspired discussion about the ADA and why we never hear about the trailblazers that made it happen!

I read this book for a diversity book club and boy am I glad I did! It is so poignant and gives the history of the fight for equality for individuals with disabilities… a fight I I still fight everyday for my students!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My review of this one was long past the character limit that Litsy has, so if you care to, you can check it out on Goodreads here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3471947772

Lacking respect for those we don‘t know or understand makes it easy to blame inequality and poverty on individuals—rather than on the system. Once we‘re caught up in blaming each other, how can we possibly create a society that values equality?

When whole groups of people become segregated from others in society, it weakens the fabric of our democracy. Distance & segregation are breeding grounds for failures of understanding & empathy & ultimately injustice & the denial of others‘ rights. If we allow ourselves slowly to become a country where we are simply unable to imagine ourselves in another‘s shoes, we can‘t understand the complexity of how discrimination occurs and how it feels.

How we treat disabled people, how we treat minorities, boils down to our fundamental beliefs about humanity. Do we believe that we all have something to contribute, regardless of where we‘re from, how we move or think, the language we speak, the color of our skin, the religion we choose, and the people we love? Do we believe in equality? We need to look inside and think deeply about whether we really believe this to be true.

If you were to acquire a disability tomorrow it would be a change. But I can tell you this: it wouldn‘t have to be a tragedy. We are all human. Why do we see disability differently from any other aspect of being human?

How can anyone know what their life would have been?
I can only know that it was meant to be what it is.
I am who I was meant to be.

Disability is seen as a burden, a tragedy.
But what if it wasn‘t?
What if someone‘s story began with the words: “I never wished I didn‘t have a disability.”

Disability is a natural aspect of the human condition. As people live longer, as we fight more wars, as medical care continues to improve—more and more people who might have died in an earlier era will live. Perhaps with a disability. We should accept it. Plan for it. Build our society around it.

The underlying assumption is that people with disabilities have less potential to learn, less ability to contribute, are less capable. That we are less equal. Do we really believe this?

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.

The truth is, the status quo loves to say no.

Inevitably, being ignored puts you in the position of having to choose between making a fuss or accepting the silent treatment. If you stand up to the ignorer and get in their face, you break the norms of polite behavior and end up feeling worse, diminished, demeaned.

When someone ignores you, it‘s an intentional display of power. They‘re essentially acting like you don‘t exist, and they do it because they can. They believe that nothing will happen to them. Ignoring silences people. It intentionally avoids resolution or compromise. It ignites your worst fears of unworthiness because it makes you feel that you deserve to be ignored.

For any story of changing the world is always the story of many. Many ideas, many arguments;many discussions; many late-night, punchy, falling apart laughing brainstorms; many believers; many friendships; many failures; many times of almost giving up; and many, many, many people.

Judith Heumann‘s autobiography is written in plain language, but with those everyday words she and her co-writer tell a damn good story. Heumann helped spearhead the longest sit-in protest in a US federal building, when - in the year of our lord 1977 - the US government was, in their own words, considering creating a “separate but equal” standard for disabled citizens. As a polio survivor used to fighting for her rights, Judy wasn‘t having it.

I am taking a class this semester and was invited to join a diversity book club… super excited to read this book! 🤓

So I have a lot of pending orders I‘m waiting for delivery of right now, but NONE of them are from Amazon for once!! 😂

So to my surprise an Amazon box shows up at my door just now….and panic set in when I realized I got something I didn‘t pay for! 😜🤣🤪

My friends y‘all.
Book mail is the best mail!!
She knows my taste, too.
I don‘t feel good and have a read-a-thon kicking off this weekend.

A perfect surprise gift. And perfect timing!

Day 28 #tbrpile

Today is the 31st anniversary of the passing of the ADA and it‘s also #disabilityawareness month. Some of my favorite books, good beginners of disability history, stories (I have a ton of other books on parenting, activity books, so on). If you are interested in learning more about disability rights, How to Be an Antiracist podcast recently did a great one on Ableism (which of course helped me find more books to read) #Integrateyourbookshelf

#curiouscovers #littenlisten (with a woman on the cover)

Another book on my #audioathon TBR. Someone posted about this last month and I immediately stacked it.

April #bookspin, happy to get two #bookspinbingos this month & double spin. Being Heumann and The Great Believers were definitely my favorite books so far this year

This was such a great book. I‘ve spent my life working with people with disabilities. Now as a mom of a child with invisible disabilities stories like this are so awe inspiring. The author was at the forefront of many of the actions that are in place today. It‘s still so hard to believe that the ADA was only passed in 1990. What‘s even more frustrating is that there are still people trying to dismantle disability rights to this day, the fight cont

Such a great read!

I learnt a lot about disability activism, and will look for more books in this area (as I also learnt I need to learn a lot more).

Finished the fabulous Being Heumann.
Takes me to #100 books this year.
Some of the lovely covers.

...the Black Panthers... had pushed their way into the building [where the sit in was being held] with fried chicken and vegetables, walnuts and almonds...

But I was beginning to learn something very important: when institutions don't want to do something, to claim that something is a "safety" issue is an easy argument to fall back on. It sounds so benign and protective. How could caring about safety possibly be wrong or discriminatory? ....

April #bookspinbingo board, I‘ve been averaging 4 books a month with grad school back in full swing (5 weeks till thesis proposal is due). I‘m looking forward to summer break and not reading as many academic papers.

I haven‘t finished this book yet, but the story is near and dear to my heart. As a person who was born with several medical conditions and disabilities, the passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act was a huge deal. Judy Heumann was a pioneer in its formation. Whether you or someone you love has a disability, or not, this is one I absolutely call a must-read. The related documentary Crip Camp is also amazing.

2020 is the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 75th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October. And yet, people with disabilities are still greatly unemployed, underemployed and not included both virtually and in person when things are inaccessible. We can do better; we must do better. To start, everyone should read this book!

Amazing book!!!!