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The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

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A smiling white woman with glasses and a floral shirt in a wheelchair shakes hands with a smiling Black woman standing.
Judy Heumann and Barbara Ransom in 2019.

The Independent Living Movement emerges.

1970s

The Story of Disability Justice
DCRJ
RES
Judy Heumann and Barbara Ransom in 2019.

Judy Heumann is denied a teaching license because her wheelchair is considered a "fire hazard." She sues the New York City Board of Education, and then joins forces with Ed Roberts to launch the Independent Living Movement.

The Independent Living Movement asserts that people with disabilities should name their own needs, frames disability as a social construct created by ableism, and asserts the importance of people with shared experience organizing together to build power and make change. This marks a shift from organizations for people with disabilities to groups organized by people with disabilities themselves.