A feature film chronicling the story of an activist known as the “mother of the disability rights movement” is set for its big-screen debut ahead of its release in theaters this fall.
“Being Heumann” will premiere Thursday during opening night at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Apple Original Films, which is behind the film, said it will then open in select theaters Nov. 6 and stream on Apple TV beginning Nov. 13.
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The movie stars Ruth Madeley, who has spina bifida, as Judy Heumann, who played a key role in fighting for civil rights protections for people with disabilities.
Based on Heumann’s book “Being Heumann,” the film focuses on her experience leading more than a hundred people with disabilities in a 1977 sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Building. The action lasted nearly a month and pressured the government to enforce Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a law requiring federal spaces to be accessible.
A recently released trailer for the film depicts Heumann in her wheelchair blocking a city bus and rallying fellow activists.
“They see you in front of the stairs and they think that you’re the problem,” Heumann tells them. “The stairs are the problem.”
After contracting polio at the age of 2, Heumann was left unable to walk. Her parents were told to institutionalize her, but fought for her to attend school instead. She later was denied a teaching license in New York because state officials worried she would not be able to evacuate in an emergency, but she pushed back and became New York State’s first teacher in a wheelchair.
Heumann, who died in 2023, was also involved in developing and ensuring implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
“Being Heumann” is directed by Academy Award-winner Siân Heder who was behind “CODA,” the first film with a predominately deaf cast to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
In addition to Madeley, the film stars Mark Ruffalo, Dylan O’Brien and Madeline Delp.
