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Profile of Leadership


Julie Redenbaugh-Aird doesn't look like someone who would get arrested for civil disobedience and she certainly doesn't look 51.Julie has Cerebral Palsy, is a scooter user, and has had full-time job for ten years. She also has speech impairment, but doesn't let that stop her from being a leader in her community of Bolder, Colorado. In fact, she interrupted our interview for a few moments to ensure that she acquired two tickets to meet Hillary Clinton at a community event this last Tuesday, October 23.

Julie describes her life as "very productive and meaningful." She works as a coordinator for older individuals who are blind and visually impaired at her local independent living center, the Center for People with Disabilities. She helps her consumers learn independent living skills and provides them with resources, as well as advocating for changes that will help them. I got a chance to manage the peer support program, as well the after school club at the Center for People with disabilities. "I developed those 2 programs" said Julie modestly.

Julie is also a leader in her local ADAPT chapter, which works to end institutional bias and on other local advocacy issues. She's been a color leader at National ADAPT actions (one of the people who helps direct the action because 500 people, most of them in wheelchairs, can't get themselves anywhere without a little direction). But, as is very Julie, she's quick to underplay her role. "We {in Bolder ADAPT} all share leadership roles."

Her passion for justice issues began when she was a twenty something college student, working mostly on issues of racism, sexism, and poverty. She marched in a Martin Luther King Day march, did the Crop Walk (a national walk-a-thon to end hunger), and protested Toys are us for selling war toys. Her first national ADAPT action was in the Chinatown section of Washington, DC. Julie says, "I think my passion for justice started when I was a teenager and it has increased."

But activism isn't the only important thing in Julie's life. She's been married to her husband, Lowell, 16 years this past August. The pair has together 18. They have no children; accept for two dogs Julie refers to as her children. They met in apartment building in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he worked maintenance- supervisor when she was tenant. They meant in the laundry room. "You know like you see in the movies," she says. She also told that, "Establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships" is the most important thing in life.

Julie says her speech impairment influence her life more than her physical disability.She adds, "There's a hierarchy in the disability community; those who can talk without speech impediments can go further. People sometimes question my intelligence and I think it has effected opportunities for employment." But she encourages other disabled women with speech issues to be leaders, if they so desire. She says " to focus on writing skills and communicate concisely. They first you say should make people listen, carefully select your words. If I'm rambling on people don't like to listen. Laugh and roll with the punches. Choose what battles to fight, instead of taking on everything." Julie also advises that all activist, women or otherwise, should "take care of self." That's one lesson I need to learn myself.

Leadership Resources
Mobility International USA:
http://www.miusa.org/  
 
They do leadership training, exchanges, advocating for the inclusion of 
woman with disabilities in development initiatives and internships (small 
payment if you agree to intern for more than six months)
 
National Youth Leadership Network:  http://www.nyln.org/
 
For men and women with disabilities between the ages of 15 and 28.  
Woman are highly represented and I was a member when I was young enough (I'm 31 now).
 
 
An electronic list for women with disabilities and their women allies.  Good information and some fun too.  
 
 
A site for girls with disabilities featuring links to independent living support, advice, and leadership support
 
Feminist Response in Disability Rights Activism (FRIDA) http://fridanow.blogspot.com/
 
These women are strong, disabled feminists of the first order!  The group began in Chicago and has advocated for such issues as the Ashley X case-a little girl in Seattle, Washington with “severe disabilities” whose last name  isn’t public knowledge whose parents surgically altered her, in early 2007, so she wouldn’t go through puberty to the horror, and public outrage, of  disability rights activists the world over.  As well the campaign for adequate pads and tampons in nursing homes.  Now women all over the country, including me, have joined them.
 
 

 

Disabled Women Organize Worldwide, Off Our Backs

January/February 2003, Laura Hershey

 

This article illustrates that while disabled women in particular have problems that vary from country to country, many are universal.  By talking with activists from South Korea, India, the United States, Nepal, and Ghana, Ms. Hershey points out our similarities.  Most of us lack “access to education, jobs, power, and community support, than almost everyone.  Disabled women often live in poverty and in isolation.”

 

But all around the world women with disabilities are fighting back against the dual discriminations of sexism and ableism.  Some have started their own organizations or chose to act as leaders among the mostly male dominated disability rights movement within their own country.

 

I think that this article demonstrates the similarities and differences we as disabled women face across cultures.  As it is only a few pages long, I think it’s a great beginning resource for women and girls who are looking to become leaders.

 

Learning from Our Neighbor:  Women with Disabilities in Oaxaca Mexico

Journal of Rehibilition, October/November/December 2003, Catherine Marshall

 

This is a comparison of programs in Mexico and the United States serving indigenous women.  To this reader's surprise Mexico seems to have better services for its indigenous disabled people than the United States does.  There also seems to be more indigenous leadership among people with disabilities there than here.  However, women have a hard time being leaders in that movement as they confront sexism within their own branch of the global disability rights movement.

 

The author outlines her research and methodology in detail.  This article is not meant to be read by the average woman with a disability or even the average advocate for women with disabilities.  Instead, it’s more designed for students, researchers (such as myself), and rehabilitation professionals.   

A Global Survey on HIV/AIDS and Disability
The Office of the Advisor on Disability and Development and The Global
HIV/AIDS  (ANNOUNCEMENT)

Program of the World Bank are sponsoring a Global Survey on HIV/AIDS
and Disability in conjunction with the Yale University School of Public Health.
We are anxious to learn how the HIV/AIDS epidemic is affecting the global
disabled population and we ask for help from you and your organizations to do this.  Today, little is known about HIV/AIDS among people with disability. The general public often assumes that people with disability are not sexually
active,  unlikely to use drugs or alcohol and at less risk of violence or rape
than their non-disabled peers. Yet those who live and work within the Disability community are keenly aware of the fact that those with disability are at increased risk of being exposed to all these known risk factors for HIV/AIDS. Moreover, most HIV/AIDS prevention efforts overlook those with disability and are unaware of the unique limitations often posed in providing them with information,(i.e. HIV/AIDS radio campaigns which are inaccessible to those with hearing impairments, newspaper ads which assume literacy in countries where fewdisabled children are allowed to go to school). Finally, if infected, those whoare disabled are less likely than their non-disabled peers to receive counseling, support, or medical care when they begin to show symptoms of thedisease.We are starting by undertaking a Global Survey on HIV/AIDS and Disability. Over the next few months, Dr. Nora Groce of the Yale School of Public Health will be looking for information about programs that provide HIV/AIDS education,interventions and services to Disability communities. We would also welcome accounts from Disability advocates about attempts to seek help for HIV/AIDS in one's community, examples about not being able to get help for one's community, stories about governments and HIV/AIDS voluntary organizations that have tried to reach disabled people and so forth.

A web site is being established where we will post examples of  innovative programs that are shared with us by you and your organizations. We will  also share information being collected, relevant papers, publications and notices of research, training sessions and conferences. If you already have information about HIV/AIDS and Disability from your own organization or if you know of a program or project that you think we should learn more about, please let us know. Finally, if you know of other Disability organizations or advocates who might have information about HIV/AIDS and Disability, we would appreciate it if you would forward this announcement on to them. 

Full Text (2801  words)
Copyright Ability Magazine Feb 28, 2003

For more information on the Bank's work in the area of disability Please contact:  Dr. Nora Groce Global Health Division,                                      Yale Schol of Public Health,                                                                        60 College Street New Haven, Connecticut USA, 06520

 

A More Heumann World Bank
  Ability Magazine. Costa Mesa: Feb 28, 2003. Vol. 2003 pg. 52
Abstract (Summary)

Heumann, an internationally recognized expert on disability and diversity issues, has been newly appointed as the World Bank's first-ever Advisoron Disability and Development in the Human Development Network. As a result of having polio in 1949, Heumann, who now uses a motorized wheelchair, understands first-hand the obstacles people with disabilities encounter, not only in the Unite States, but around the globe. At times she has been her own bestadvocate, once suing a State Board of Education to obtain her teaching certificate, but she has also devoted the greater part of her life to bettering the lives of others.

A More Heumann World Bank

Ability Magazine

February 28, 2003, Chet Cooper.

 

This entire article is an interview and some background information on Judy Heumann, a famous American disability rights activist and head of the World Bank's division on disability and development.  She is the first disability and development advisor ever, male or female.  The first part of her interview is "what is a tragedy is when people with disabilities are not welcomed into the economic mainstream of a community and not given the chance to work for their own hopes and dreams."  Careful to hold onto her activist roots, Ms. Heumann is not, in my opinion, likely to allow the powers that be at the World Bank to boss her around (and this is coming from someone who doesn't like the Bank very much in general).

 

Even though Judy doesn't have a speech impediment, she is a woman that all  women and girls with disabilities can look up to. 

"What is a tragedy is when people with disabilities are not welcomed into the economic mainstream of a community and not given the chance to work for their own hopes and dreams," stated Judith E. Heumann. "That's a vision that
I want to be able to bring to the Bank."

Heumann, an internationally recognized expert on disability and diversity issues, has been newly appointed as the World Bank's first-ever Advisor on Disability and Development in the Human Development Network.  As a result of having polio in 1949, Heumann, who now uses a motorized wheelchair, understands first-hand the obstacles people with disabilities encounter, not only in the United States, but around the globe. At times she has been her own best advocate, once suing a State Board of Education to obtain her teaching certificate, but she has also devoted the greater part of her life to betteringthe lives of others.  Since the 1970s, Heumann has worked extensively with governments and  non-government organizations (NGOs) contributing to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. From 1993 to 2001, she served as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services at the Department of Education, supervising a program that served almost six million people nationwide.  Preparing her for the position she now holds within the World Bank, Heumann's international activities have included co-chairing of the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities and policy consultations with governmental and non-governmental agencies in Mexico, Brazil, Japan,China and throughout Europe. As co-founder of the World Institute on Disability, Heumann is credited with creating the first public policy research think tank devoted to disability issues. She has shaped and co-directed the nation's first Center on Independent Living in Berkeley, California, and serves as a member of the board of directors on many public policy and service organizations. Today, Heumann is focused on her most difficult and wide-spread challenge to date. There are approximately 400 million people with disabilities in developing countries, many of whom are excluded from chool or the workplace and forced to depend on their family for lifetime support. "Bringing marginalized populations into the mainstream of developing countries is a vital step in reducing poverty and extending hope and a chance to thrive to people who may only have known discrimination and exclusion," says James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank. "All people in developing countries should have equal opportunities, and I'm delighted that we have chosen such a prominent disability champion as Judy Heumann to carry this agenda forward."

Heumann and ABILITY Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Chet Cooper, were first introduced during the 1996 conference of the World Congress. Their paths have continued to cross as they work to bring greater awareness to the issues surrounding people with disabilities. During the recent Conference on Disability and Development hosted by the World Bank, Cooper had the opportunity to sit with Heumann and talk about her new position and vision for the World Bank'sintegration of disabilities within their agenda.

Chet Cooper: It's great to see you again Judy and congratulations on your new position with the World Bank. What's in store for you as the first Advisor on Disability and Development?

Judy Heumann: Well, I was hired by the World Bank in June.                       

CC: (repeating and writing notes) "I was hired by the World Bank in June..." Okay, we're done. Great! That should do it. Thank you so much for your time(laughs)                                                                                                            

JH: (laughs) I was hired by the Bank in June as the Advisor on Disability and Development. The purpose of the position is to work on integrating disability related issues throughout the Bank. I work with various offices to help them have a better understanding of who comprises the vast population of people with disabilities. My attention is focused on what the specific needs of the population are and what the Bank could be doing to integrate those issues that affect people with disabilities into its work. This is a critical issue because employees at the Bank have heavy workloads. Everyone is trying to deal with a number of agendas so we must allow people to see we're not setting up another area--we're looking at the work that is already being done and trying to help them incorporate and integrate these issues into their existing agenda.

CC: How knowledgeable is the Bank on issues surrounding people with disabilities?

JH: It's no surprise that the Bank, like most other countries, has very limited knowledge about the needs of this community. What is exciting about this position is that it is enabling me to find and recognize those people
and departments who have been doing some work in this area. They are now feeling empowered because the leadership of the Bank is supporting the agenda. I think there's a level of humility because we haven't done that much... and we need to do more. This conference is significant because we have a combination of leadership from the Bank talking about the importance of the issues surrounding people with disabilities around the world, and we have also brought in respected speakers to talk about the population's needs from an economic development's perspective. Today, Queen Noor of Jordan spoke about how critically important linking the issues of economic development and human rights is.


CC: Many of the changes that are happening at the World Bank are coming as the result of an evaluation completed by Canada. Was it Canada that initiated the survey?

JH: I believe people already doing work on disability issues at the Bank went to the Canadians and asked if we could apply money from the Canadian Trust Fund to do a baseline assessment.
CC: Can you elaborate on that process?

JH: In the World Bank, many of the countries have set aside trust fund money that may be applied for. The trust fund money, in this case, is given to help evaluation of what the Bank is doing in the area of disabilities. The work completed with trust fund money is by people who are from the country that has been given the money. In this instance, money was granted by the Canadian Trust Fund and therefor had to go to a Canadian company. There was competition and ultimately the Canadian Center for Disability Studies(CCDS) was awarded the grant. They talked with more than a hundred people in the Bank and met with NGOs at the country level before making a series of recommendations in reference to the Bank's need to improve their work in the area of disabilities. One recommendation was to hold an event such as this conference. Naturally, there were a series of additional recommendations which we'll be addressing over the coming years.

CC: Such as obtaining editorial coverage within ABILITY Magazine, of
course.

JH: Right! That was clearly a recommendation. (laughs)

CC: Was your current position then created out of a recommendation by the CCDS?

JH: The hiring of this position was really twofold. Mr. Wolfensohn commented in a speech that he gave in December of 2000 that the Bank would hire an advisor. This study reiterated the fact that a person should be hired.

CC: How do you propose to affect the changes necessary within the Bank?

JH: I gave a presentation recently, and one of the purposes was to help the senior leadership have a better idea of who the population is. I've also asked
them to put together a working group in their particular areas of responsibility
that my office could now work with, in order to help them develop their own plan of action to integrate disability into their agenda; we've already been contacted by a number of the offices. Some of them, like the East Asia region are going to put together a team, the Latin American region will probably do the same and then we'll work with them on putting together a plan. We have to look at this more on an annual basis, what can and will happen in a year, in
two years, in three years. It is my hope that in the next three to five years there will be measurable differences.

CC: You appear confident the Bank is moving in the right direction.

JH: Absolutely. Right now there is more engagement; we're working with
the entry of other development agencies; we're discussing the issues more and
we're internally looking at what we need to be doing. But by next year if we're still doing the same thing--then we won't have accomplished anything. By
2004, I hope to be able to show a few more countries where governments and the Bank are working aggressively on integrating disability into their agenda. More loan packages provided by the Bank will be integrating disability along the lines of physical access, education--which I think is important--and employment to transport urban environments. There are 10,000 people who work in the Bank and the Bank is in over 150 countries.

CC: In one year?

JH: I have no expectations that we'll be able to affect all of them in a year, but I'd like to be able to say that we have been able to work more deeply with three countries and that there will be greater interest in other countries. One  of my other expectations is that at the country level the NGOs will see themselves beginning to do more work with the ministries of finance. It's the ministries of finance that do the substantial amount of negotiating with the Bank; the ministers of finance--in conjunction with the leadership of the government-determine what their loan packages should look like.

CC: What type of internal communication will come from your office?        

JH: First of all, an email was sent out from the vice president of human development to the other vice presidents, encouraging them to look further at this issue. There is also an internal publication called the Today. In yesterday's Today...

CC: Yesterday or Today?     

JH: It was in yesterday's Today, today's Today and hopefully tomorrow's
Today. (laughs) They've made a number of announcements over the last couple of weeks informing staff this conference was going to happen and it was a banner headline in yesterday's paper. I think we've been very lucky to have good people working to make this day a success.


CC: Do you believe there is a greater resolve to the issues now that you're on board and the Bank is demonstrating a higher commitment to the issues surrounding disabilities?

JH: It is great because so many people in the Bank did so much work. I couldn't... I have no illusions--this didn't happen because of me. I do believe this did happen because of Mr. Wolfensohn's commitment to the issue and people in the Bank believing that he wants something to happen. During the
first meeting I had with some of his staff in September we were visualizing a small meeting when Xavier Coll, Director, Office of the President said, "No, no, no... This has to be much bigger. We have to think much bigger." I told the staff that if we go "much bigger" then they were going to have to help us-there's no way "much bigger" is going to happen from Pamela and myself alone. (laughs) Pamela Dudzik is the Operations Analyst for Human Development Network, Social Protection. Anyhow, they stepped up and I think that's what's been very exciting about working here. People have really been willing to help and our focus in the last six months hasn't just been on today, but it's really been on building.

CC: Are you traveling much?

JH: Oh, yes. I did a month of traveling in Asia and I'll be going to India and gypt. I enjoy traveling. It's great because when I was in Vietnam, in particular, most people had never seen a motorized wheelchair. So many places were not ccessible but we brought our own ramps and in some places they built ramps. When we were first scheduling my trip, they were going to schedule most
of my meetings in a hotel. I told them I didn't want my meetings in a hotel, I wanted to be out and about and we'd figure it out. The Bank's office had steps and on the day I arrived the ramp hadn't been built yet so they had to carry me up the stairs. Before we left, the ramp had been built. We went to NGOs and to government programs where we needed to use our own ramps. I think that was great and we got media coverage.


CC: That's a great quote: "Out and about and we'd figure it out..."
JH: Absolutely. I'm a linguist!

CC: (laughs) How does the United States measure up to the work being
done by other, even less developed countries?

JH: The United States has not really been a heavy hitter in the international development arena in disability and that's unfotunate. We're in a unique position in the United States. We have many people with disabilities who are immigrants, who work in organizations around the United States, and we
are not effectively using their knowledge and skills. If you look at what is
going on with the disability community in Japan or all across Scandinavia...  hope that in the next five to ten years, the U.S. can be an equal player, but
right now it is definitely at the bottom. Scandinavian countries each have a coalition of national disability groups. They receive money from the federal governments in the area of international work and international coalition at the country level.  Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark then distribute those dollars. Their projects have much more of an effect in the disability community because development is specifically given to disability related or run programs. It  would be nice--in a year--to see the U.S. more engaged.

visit: and click on "disability"
Photograph (Queen Noor of Jordan speaking with Judy Heumann)
Indexing (document details)
      Subjects:Civil rights,  Disability,  Handicapped people,  Human
rights, 
      Legislation,  Politics
      Document types:Interview
      Document features:Photograph
      Publication title:Ability Magazine. Costa Mesa: Feb 28, 2003.
Vol. 2003
      pg. 52
      Source type:Periodical
      ISSN:87568934
      ProQuest document ID:495912621
      Text Word Count2801
      Document
URL:http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=495912621

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