Harriet McBryde Johnson, a disability activist, writer, and attorney, challenged stereotypes and fought for disability rights. Despite being born with a neuromuscular disorder, she excelled academically and professionally, using her gift with words to inform the public about living with a disability. She worked primarily in Social Security disability appeals and was a fierce opponent of the Jerry Lewis Telethon. She generated widespread interest in disability rights when she debated philosopher Peter Singer’s belief that infants with severe disabilities could be euthanized. She died in 2008.
Disability activist Harriet McBryde Johnson was born July 8, 1957 and died June 4, 2008. In an interview, she said her goal was to help people understand that “The presence or absence of a disability does not predict quality of life.”
Harriet McBryde Johnson’s disability was the result of a congenital neuromuscular disorder that left her in a wheelchair for life and unable to dress or wash herself without assistance. As a child, she attended special education classes until she was asked to leave at age 13 after starting a campaign to have the principal fired. Her parents found her a private high school to attend, where she excelled academically. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Charleston Southern University, a master’s degree in public administration from the College of Charleston, and a JD from the University of South Carolina.
Prolific writer, Harriet McBryde Johnson has used her gift with words to inform the public about what it is like to live with a disability. She published fiction and non-fiction books and regularly submitted articles to The New York Times and other high-profile publications in the United States. Her writings were both humorous and brutally honest, as she referred to herself using terms like “a bedpan for the bed” and “a jumble of bones in a saggy leather bag.”
In her work as an attorney, Harriet McBryde Johnson has worked primarily in the area of Social Security disability appeals. While her work was not glamorous, she said she derived great personal satisfaction from helping her working-class clients get the assistance they needed to live their lives to the fullest. She has also served on the steering committee of the National Lawyer’s Guild and was a board member of Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities. In 2003, she was named New Mobility’s Person of the Year in honor of her many professional achievements.
In 2003, Harriet McBryde Johnson generated widespread interest in the issue of disability rights when she had a well-publicized debate with Professor Peter Singer, a Princeton philosopher who believed that parents and doctors could euthanize infants with severe disabilities or l lack of higher brain function. His argument centered on the belief that children, like animals, are neither self-conscious nor rational beings.
Nationally, Harriet McBryde Johnson is perhaps best known for her work against the Jerry Lewis Telethon. She was against the Telethon fundraiser because she claimed the organization promoted “the charity mentality” and sought to extort money using “pity-based tactics.” For nearly 20 years she has been one of the telethon’s fiercest opponents.
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