Heumann helped launch Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living, sued to become New York’s first teacher to use a wheelchair and held senior roles in the Clinton and Obama administrations.
Disability rights
Posted inObituaries
Remembering Hale Zukas, daring visionary of the disability rights movement
Wry, tenacious and determined, Zukas designed Berkeley’s first curb cuts, brought wheelchair-accessible buttons to BART elevators and engineered accessibility improvements around the globe.
Posted inCommunity
A year after life-changing award, Berkeley inventor for the blind is writing a memoir
Joshua Miele won a MacArthur “genius” prize in 2021. Set up in a new workshop, he’s planning a listening party for the sounds of the aurora borealis and is learning to use his celebrity for good.
Posted inBusiness
Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living, which launched the disability rights movement, turns 50
Famous for pushing Berkeley to install the country’s first curb cut, the center has also broken ground with its peer counseling program and now helps around 1,000 people per year.
Posted inCrime & Safety
How seniors and people with disabilities can prepare for wildfires
Issues with mobility, hearing, vision, frailty and intellectual or developmental disabilities make emergency preparedness more challenging. Preparation can help and may save lives.
Posted inSchools
She fought on behalf of her blind son. Now BUSD will make online learning tools more accessible
The National Federation of the Blind hopes a settlement the mother reached with BUSD will become a blueprint for other school districts.
Posted inObituaries
Remembering Marilyn Golden, disability rights activist who lobbied for ADA
Marilyn Golden, a key figure in the drafting and passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, died at her home in Berkeley on Sept. 21.
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley inventor of blind adaptive technology wins MacArthur ‘genius’ prize
Joshua A. Miele won a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship for his pragmatic inventions that help blind people navigate the physical and digital world.
Posted inSchools
Berkeley Unified will settle suit claiming it failed students with reading disorders
Berkeley Unified has agreed to settle a 2017 lawsuit alleging it failed to provide an appropriate education for students with dyslexia.
Posted inArts
‘Never in our wildest dreams’: The documentary ‘Crip Camp’ nominated for an Oscar
‘Crip Camp’ shows how a summer camp in upstate New York galvanized a generation of activists and influenced Berkeley’s disability rights movement.
Posted inCity
Berkeley residents with disabilities say their needs ‘not built into’ PG&E shutoff policy
Frustrated with the official handling, some people in the disability community organized their own emergency response efforts during recent blackouts.
Posted inCity, Fire, Nature
Berkeley reaches out to vulnerable residents during shutoff, but evacuation call prompts criticism
Hundreds of Twitter users accused the city of telling residents with disabilities to fend for themselves during the outage. Berkeley says that doesn’t reflect what’s happening on the ground.
