Disability Network Northern Michigan

10/07/2026

Women’s group is canceled for today. See you next week

10/07/2026

The government cut the water and phone lines trying to force her out of a federal building. She stayed 28 days anyway.
Judy Heumann contracted polio at 18 months old. It left her using a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
At 5, her mother tried to enroll her in kindergarten.
The principal refused. He called her, and her wheelchair, a fire hazard.
She wasn't properly enrolled in school until she was 9.
She grew up anyway. She earned her college degree. She applied for a New York teaching license.
The same school district turned her down again. Same reasoning. Fire hazard.
She sued the Board of Education.
A federal judge pushed the board to reconsider. They did.
Judy Heumann became the first wheelchair user ever to teach in New York State.
She didn't stop there.
In 1977, the federal government still hadn't enforced Section 504, a law banning disability discrimination in any program receiving federal funding.
Heumann helped organize protests nationwide. In San Francisco, she led roughly 100 demonstrators into a federal building.
They didn't leave.
The government cut the water. They cut the phone lines, trying to force them out.
The sit-in lasted 28 days. It remains the longest occupation of a federal building in American history.
On April 28, 1977, the government finally signed the regulations.
Heumann kept fighting for decades afterward, helping draft the Americans with Disabilities Act years later.
Judy Heumann died in March 2023. She was 75.
A principal once decided a five-year-old girl in a wheelchair didn't belong in a classroom.
She spent the rest of her life making sure that decision never got to stand anywhere else again.

10/05/2026

We are over the top happy for our two little office friends. Today they quit sitting next to each other in separate cages and now share one perch!

09/30/2026

09/28/2026

Our office is closed today but staff is available to return phone messages.

09/28/2026

Our office will be closed Monday -Wednesday this week, September 28-30. Staff will return phone messages as soon as they are able.

09/21/2026

09/16/2026

Mark your calendar for Tuesday Sept 22nd. Our new Advocacy Group will be meeting at 2pm. Call the office for the zoom link if you cant join us in person.

09/13/2026