In April, 2007 Mayor Fenty named Judith E. Heumann to be first director of the DC Department on Disability Services. Having had polio as a young child, Ms. Heumann is widely recognized as a leader in the disability rights movement both in the US and throughout the world.  In June 2002, she was named as the World Bank's first adviser on disability and development. In this position, Heumann, an internationally recognized expert on disability and diversity issues, led the World Bank's work to expand the Bank’s knowledge and capability to work with governments and civil society on including disability initiatives. Her work highlighted the importance of integrating disability priorities in Bank discussions with client countries and improving policies and programs to allow disabled people around the world to live and work in the economic and social mainstream of their communities.

 

From 1993 to 2001, Heumann served in the Clinton Administration as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education. Heumann was responsible for the implementation of federal legislation for programs in special education, disability research, vocational rehabilitation and independent living, serving more than 8 million youth and adults with disabilities.

 

For more than 30 years, Heumann has been involved on the international front working with government officials around the world to advance the human rights of disabled people. She represented Education Secretary Richard Riley at the 1995 International Congress on Disability in Mexico City. She was a US delegate to the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and has been active with Disabled People International, Rehabilitation International and numerous independent living centers throughout the world. She co-founded the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, CA, and the World Institute on Disability in Oakland, CA.

 

Heumann graduated from Long Island University in 1969 and received her master's degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975. She has received numerous awards including being the first recipient of the Henry B. Betts Award in recognition of efforts to significantly improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.