By PETER TORRES FREMLIN: For Complete Post, Click Here…
Remembering Judy Heumann, and how she changed us.
One, that made a multitude
I only met Judy once. That’s all she needed to touch your soul. She showed a respect and belief in me that I struggle to have for myself.
She gave time to so many of us, so generously. The photos I have are exactly like those everyone else has: smiles, laughter, caught in Judy’s charisma. These moments are one of the treasures she left us.
Judy connected us. As she insisted, her story is one of community, and it’s a community that she did so much to make. “At heart,” she wrote, “I am a networker and a convener.” She opens her autobiography:
“It wasn’t actually an ‘I,’ it was a ‘we.’ 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. This is my story, yes, but I was one in a multitude.”
Through these connections, Judy made coalitions and led protests that changed the place of disabled people in the United States and beyond. Her fierce vision of equality is reflected in policy and legislation worldwide. She changed what is possible for us and what we can believe in ourselves.
