Why I Celebrate 'Judy Day' and You Should Too

Earlier this month, my students and I celebrated what I call ‘Judy Day’. It’s my favorite day of the semester at Neurodiversity Pathways and a day that I believe that all schools should teach.

Although the day is officially listed as ‘Employment Self Advocacy’ in my lesson plan, to me it’s always ‘Judy Day’. It’s the day I discuss with my neurodivergent students the history of the 504 sit-ins, a nationwide disability rights protest led by Judith (Judy) Heumann, Frank Bowe, and other disabled Americans in 1977.

Why is this important? It's because being connected to community and culture is necessary for human beings to thrive. Despite all the funds spent, I continue to be surprised that our educational and vocational systems give little focus on educating neurodivergent and otherwise disabled individuals about disability history, culture, and community. Connecting with these things provide an individual with systems of support, provide potential friendships and professional connections, and better help the disabled person understand their normalcy. That's why I celebrate #JudyDay (I'm making it a hashtag).

If you’re not familiar with the #504SitIns, the event is considered a crucial flashpoint in the disability rights movement and the development of disabled culture. Although Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 forbade discrimination in federal programs on the basis of disability, the regulations required to enforce this law remained undrafted and subsequently unsigned for years. In early 1977, disability advocates lobbied the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to sign the regulations necessary to enforce the law and demanded that the Secretary of HEW do so by April 4th of that year.

Admittedly, I’m a policy wonk who spent seven years in federal service. If you don’t naturally find federal regulations as thrilling as I do (and I do find federal regulations thrilling), Comedy Central has a terrific episode of ‘Drunk History’ which tells this story in a much more entertaining way.

[PHOTO ABOVE: An image from the Comedy Central 'Drunk History' program episode on the 504 Sit-Ins.]

When April 04, 1977, passed without the Secretary of HEW signing the 504 regulations into law, disability advocates began to demonstrate at HEW offices across the country. Although most protests at HEW offices lasted approximately one day, the protest at the HEW office in San Francisco and led by Judy Heumann and Kitty Cone lasted for a full 25. During this time, disabled people occupied the HEW office in the San Francisco Federal Building along with allies which included parents of disabled children. This effort gained media attention from across the country and set in motion a series of events that pressured the Secretary of HEW to finally sign the 504 Regulations on April 28, 1977.

[ILLUSTRATION ABOVE: A map of the continental United States showing locations of HEW offices in 1977.]

[PHOTO ABOVE: An image from the 504 Sit-In at the HEW Office in the San Francisco Federal Building in 1977.]

As far as history goes, the story of the 504 Sit-Ins is a great story and an appropriate lesson to teach to my neurodivergent students. However, it’s not a history lesson which makes it ‘Judy Day’ for me and my students. It’s something much more. It’s something vital to their long-term career success - the lesson of community.

We spend a lot of time discussing the concept of self-advocacy with our students at Neurodiversity Pathways. A concept developed in the disability community, self-advocacy refers to the ability of an individual to communicate their needs. Historically, disabled people have often been spoken for. Self Advocacy is a frame that disabled people can use to speak for themselves.

Although self-advocacy is discussed with our students from day one each semester, ‘Judy Day’ is the day where we begin to discuss how self-advocacy and disability culture work together to support the individual. To put it simply, ‘Judy Day’ helps demonstrate to our students that they are not alone.

‘Judy Day’ could just as easily be ‘Stacy Park Milbern Day’. It could be Jennifer White-Johnson Day, or ‘Imani Barbarin Day', or ‘Lydia X. Z. Brown Day’, or ‘Ed Roberts Day’. ‘Judy Day’ could go by a million names for the millions of disabled people who have worked to secure rights, build community, and exercise normalcy.

[Illustration ABOVE: A Google Doodle celebrating the 35th birthday of disability advocate Stacy Park Milbern.]

I could not be teaching my students today if it were not for the work of disabled advocates. The leadership of Judy Heumann, Frank Bowe, and many others back in 1977 continues to have an impact on disabled people like myself today.

For my students, I’ve found that discussing the story of the 504 sit-ins helps provide them with psychological relief. It helps them realize that self-advocacy doesn’t have to happen in a vacuum. After years of thinking that they are alone - it’s on ‘Judy Day’ that some discover an ever-intersecting network of disability communities to which they can connect and find support.

I find that people often think of disabled people as individuals with individual conditions. The reality is that disabled people come together to form both community and culture. Just among those who are autistic, like myself, there is Black autistic culture, LGBTQ+ autistic culture, non-speaking autistic culture, academic autistic culture, and so on. No person is an island. Our overall society recognizes the need for an individual to be connected with one’s community and supported by one’s culture. It’s time our society recognizes that need exists within disabled people as well.

[PHOTO LEFT: Jennifer White-Johnson's son Knox holds an Autistic Joy sticker.]

Yet, from the millions of dollars spent on educating disabled people in the United States, one would be hard-pressed to find the few pennies spent by our educational system to inform the disabled student of the community and culture which exists around them. If we want disabled students to thrive as disabled adults, we must teach them about the work of people like Judy Heuman. We must connect them with the community. We must show them how finding disability culture in all its various forms means that there is a network of others with shared experiences who can help ensure that they don’t have to go it alone.

[PHOTO ABOVE: Judy Heumann delivers remarks at TED.]

Judy Heumann would be the first person to downplay my reference to her name, instead pointing me to other disability advocates worthy of the adulation. Call ‘Judy Day’ whatever you want, but let’s be sure to teach disabled students about the disability community and culture. Let’s ensure that their education includes learning the lesson that they can connect with and rely on others like them and that no disabled person is alone.

#Disability #Neurodiversity #JudyHeumann #JudithHeumann #DisabilityHistory #DisabilityCulture #Autistic #Autism #ADHD #Dyslexia #Dyscalculia #DisabilityEducation #AutisticJoy #SelfAdvoacy

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John Marble is the founder of?Pivot Neurodiversity?and is a training partner and instructor with?Neurodiversity Pathways.?

He is autistic.