Recently, my elementary-aged son was diagnosed with ADHD. Over the course of the current school year, he has vocalized his inability to focus during the day. He has struggled to complete tasks in a timely manner and to sit still and work for long periods of time. If you have a child with ADHD, you are familiar with the aforementioned traits. His teacher made a special spot for him to sit to help him stay focused and on task. In this path to diagnosis, we learned of the 504 Plan. 

A dear friend told me about this plan–also known as Section 504–and how it has helped her son through high school. It is a written plan geared toward ensuring students with disabilities have access to a learning environment and receive accommodations that will ensure their academic success. (Different from an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which focuses on educational benefits and direct services like speech or occupational therapy).

For students with ADHD**, these accommodations change how they learn–not what they learn–with the goal being removing the barriers to learning.

In 1970, Judy Huemann passed every requirement needed to become a teacher in New York City, except the physical requirement. A quadriplegic since childhood, she challenged the requirement that teachers must not have physical issues preventing them from accessing stairs and ushering students outside in case of an emergency. At the time, discrimination against disabled people was not seen as a problem, so she sued the city. She argued that the absence of an elevator did not preclude her from teaching on the ground floor. Months later, Judy Huemann won her case and became the first New York City teacher in a wheelchair.

This was just the beginning of Judy Heumann’s groundbreaking legacy.

In 1973, Richard Nixon signed the Rehabilitation Act. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was written to outlaw discrimination against disabled people by any institution receiving federal money. But four years later, the measure had not been implemented in San Francisco.

“It was a very important provision because it would mean, for example, that you could not discriminate against someone with a disability in preschool, in elementary school, in high school, at universities, in hospitals, in government,” She told the BBC in 2020. 

In April of 1977, activists protested in federal buildings in cities across the country with the San Francisco protest lasting a month–the longest non-violent occupation of a federal building at the time. “...nobody was taking what we were doing seriously,” Judy told the New York Times in 2020. 

On April 28, the secretary of health, education and welfare signed Section 504. This measure paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which broadened protections beyond federal institutions to include the private sector and many other areas of public life.

Judy Heumann spent most of her life advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. She advised and found organizations for those with disabilities. She worked in government, specifically in Labor and Public Welfare and the office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services.

"Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives — job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example," she told reporter Joseph Shapiro in 1987. "It is not a tragedy to me that I'm living in a wheelchair.

Judy Heumann died on March 4, 2023 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 75. As a company, community, and city steeped in the civil rights movement, we salute Judy Heumann, and honor her legacy of accessibility and inclusion through our work at Welcomed Co™. Her accomplishments are far greater than can be expressed in this blog post, but her impact is far-reaching…right to the heart of Birmingham, Alabama.

**According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDAA), “ADHD is not considered to be a learning disability… falls under the category “Other Health Impaired” and not under “Specific Learning Disabilities.” Individuals with ADHD can qualify for accommodations under the ADA and Section 504 if their ADHD impacts a major life function such as learning.”

Photo Credit: “Judy Heumann” by Taylorw is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0