Being Heumann Overview

The year is 1977. Raised in Brooklyn by German Jewish immigrants, and using a wheelchair since a childhood case of polio, Judy Heumann (Ruth Madeley) knows it takes grit and tenacity to get things done. So when Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) refuses to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first national civil rights legislation designed to provide protections for people with disabilities, Judy devises a plan to force his hand.

She begins with the occupation of a federal building in San Francisco, before going all the way to DC — and Califano’s front door — with a diverse team of self-described “radical crips,” creating solidarity through coalitions of marginalized groups.

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