The Voiceless Minority

  In modern society, whether you are four or forty or somewhere in between, chances are you know someone with a disability. I have been blogging about disability-related issues for over eleven years, and I am just beginning. I have always thought that the earlier and more often people are exposed to disability in some form or another, the better; finally, a TV network agrees.   Okay, I am technically a little late to the party since one season has already aired. Still, I’m excited that the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max, now just MAX, is bringing back a show called “Hop” designed to teach preschoolers about disabilities and differences.   The main character is a frog with only one leg. Along with its friends, Hop aims to teach preschoolers to embrace their own and others’ uniqueness. Recently, I wrote a blog about the need for disabilities to be prevalent in live theater, but this is even more crucial. Even though I don’t know much about the show, fr...

Disability pioneer Judy Heumann passed away this past weekend. Since my blog focuses on disability related issues I would be doing you my readers a great disservice if I did not write a piece on the late Judy Heumann, without whom this blog may not even exist.  Judith ”Judy” Heumann was born on December 18th 1947 in Philadelphia and raised in Brooklyn. She contracted Polio at the age of two. Fortunately for her, her parents did not subscribe to the popular theory on people with disabilities at the time. When the doctors suggested she be institutionalized because there was “no way she will ever walk” her parents chose not to listen.  Miss Heumann began her advocacy work in the 70’s when she fought the New York board of education over the right to teach in a classroom. She would eventually win the battle and become the first teacher with a disability in New York. Her advocacy efforts would soon reach far beyond New York.  In 1975 Ed Roberts asked Judy to move to California ...