Important Women in the Disability

As March is National Women's Month I wanted to take some time to celebrate a few women in the disability community that have made a huge impact on the community in paving the way.

1. Helen Keller was born healthy in Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880. At 19 months old she became very sick with meningitis and scarlet fever losing all of vision and hearing. Keller published 14 books and many articles about women's suffrage and civil rights. Keller was also inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame for her work in advocating for the rights of people with disabilities especially those who are deaf and blind. Keller passed away on June 1st, 1961
   

2. Judy Huemann was born December 18th, 1947 Huemann contracted Polio in 1949 at just 2 years old causing her to have to use a wheelchair. Huemann is known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement". She played a major role in developing big legislation such as the IDEA, Section 504, the Americans with Disability Act, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
   

3. Tatyana McFadden is considered to be the fastest woman in the world and was born in Russia on April 21 1989 with Spina Bifida during the fall of communism. Mcfaadden's birth mom could not take care of her until the age of six Mcfadden lived in an orphanage in Russia until meeting her forever family that adopted her and brought her to the USA. Mcfadden having no medical treatment for the first six years of her life was extremely sick as a way of trying to get her healthy Mcfadden's parents got her involved in sports at a young age. She quickly fell in love with wheelchair racing. She now has 20 Paralympic medals. Mcfadden wanted to race on her high school track team but was denied the right to because she was the only girl wheelchair racer out there. Mcfadden sued her school for people with disabilities to have the right to participate on their high-school sports team. This became a federal law called the Fitness and Athletics Equity for Students with Disabilities Act in 2008 making it illegal for school sports teams to discriminate against students with disabilities.
   

4. Darlene Hunter was born April 16th, 1982 she was left paralyzed at the age of four due to a spinal cord injury after an accident. Hunter is a 3 time Paralympian and gold medalist in wheelchair basketball in the 2016 Paralympics. Hunter is currently a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition to playing wheelchair basketball Hunter also coaches and mentors youth adaptive athletes, sharing her passion for adaptive sports while bettering the lives of children and teens with disabilities.

These four women along with others have done fabulous work in creating a place for people with disabilities in society.

All information was found at the following websites

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/helen-keller

https://judithheumann.com/

https://tatyanamcfadden.com/

https://moveunitedsport.org/darlene-hunter-and-phil-galli/