Kathleen Daughety

“But it wouldn’t happen—the government would not take any responsibility—unless we made it impossible for them to ignore us. The idea of bringing a lawsuit against the Board of Ed was daunting, and I had no clue how to do it. I didn’t even know where to start. I definitely didn’t know any lawyers. The people I knew were butchers and cops, teachers and firefighters. How did one go about finding a lawyer? How could I possibly find one who would see the Board of Education’s decision as an issue of civil rights? If the ACLU didn’t get it, what hope did I have of finding a mainstream lawyer who got it? We decided we needed publicity. A disabled guy I knew from school was a journalism major and stringer for the New York Times. I called him and told him about the Board of Education’s decision. The next day a reporter named Andrew Malcolm called to interview me. A week later, the article, “Woman in Wheel Chair Sues to Become Teacher,” came out. It was 1970, and I was twenty-two years old.”
― Judith Heumann, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

“I think my generation,” she said, “many getting killed, and beaten, and spit on, and dogs, and hoses, did not understand that you have to keep telling the story in order for people to understand. Each generation has to know the story of how we got where we are today, because if you don’t understand, then you are in the position to go back to it.”
― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

“Right there was our catch-22: Because the country was so inaccessible, disabled people had a hard time getting out and doing things—which made us invisible. So we were easy to discount and ignore. Until institutions were forced to accommodate us we would remain locked out and invisible—and as long as we were locked out and invisible, no one would see our true force and would dismiss us.”
― Judith Heumann, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

“When I think about the history of slavery and racism in this country, I think about how quick we are to espouse notions of progress without accounting for its uncertain and serpentine path.”
― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America