[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 15, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING JUDITH ``JUDY'' HEUMANN

  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I wish to commemorate the life of Judy 
Heumann, a leader in the disability rights movement, who passed away on 
March 4.
  Judy was an internationally recognized leader in the disability 
community. She was instrumental in the development and implementation 
of major disability rights legislation, including the Rehabilitation 
Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act--IDEA--the 
Americans with Disabilities Act, and the UN Convention on the Rights of 
Persons with Disabilities.
  She was a true public servant having served as the Assistant 
Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services in the Department of Education from 1993 to 2001 and as the 
first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the 
Department of State from 2010 to 2017. In 1974, she helped develop 
legislation that became the IDEA while working on the Senate Committee 
on Labor and Public Welfare--now the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions, which I am proud to chair.
  Judy became known as the ``mother of the disability rights movement'' 
when she fought to implement the Rehabilitation Act. Her activism was a 
defining moment in the disability and civil rights movement paving the 
way for the future legislation.
  Judy changed the world for the one in four Americans living with a 
disability and one in six individuals with disabilities around the 
world. I join the disability community in honoring her contributions to 
the disability and civil rights movement.
  Judy was feisty in her many roles fighting for disability rights. And 
she will be remembered for the impacts her advocacy made to improve the 
lives of people with disabilities.
  May the memory of Judy Heumann be for a blessing.

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