35 years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act advanced the idea that society should be accessible for everyone. In this episode: Stories about people who had to find their way in a world built for someone else.
Leave us a voicemail at 702-706-TALK, or email us at [email protected].
Released July 29, 2025.
Max Jungreis: Hey, folks—This is Max Jungreis, from the StoryCorps Podcast.
Just wanna remind you that you can tell us your personal stories by calling our voicemail at 702 – 706- TALK.
This episode is inspired by the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you have a disability— is there something you wish people understood about it?
Tell us in a voicemail at 702 -706- T-A-L-K.
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Jasmyn Morris (JM): Hey listeners… The Americans with Disabilities Act just hit its 35th anniversary. … That’s the law that makes it illegal to discriminate against someone because of a mental or physical disability.
But it does even more than that. It’s the reason things are… accessible. It’s why there are ramps on buildings… captions on TV shows… and a transcript of this episode on our website. The idea is that the world should be built for everyone.
And some of the voices in this episode will be different from what you’re used to hearing on the podcast. Many of them use devices to communicate, or talk in a unique way.
The thing that they all have in common… is that they had to find their way in a world built for someone else.
Isaiah Acosta: My name is Isaiah Acosta.
Judy Heumann: My name is Judy Heumann.
Myra Brown: Uh, hi. My name is Myra Brown.
Bonnie Brown: Hi my name is Myra Brown. Oh, I—
<Myra and Bonnie laugh>
Bonnie Brown: My name is Bonnie Brown.
John Carter Washington: My name is John Carter Washington.
JM: I’m Jasmyn Morris. It’s the StoryCorps Podcast from NPR.
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JM: First— we’re going to hear from someone known as ‘The mother of the disability rights movement.’
Judy Heuman [HUMAN] was born in 1947… and became a wheelchair user after contracting polio as a toddler. But as a kid… she didn’t think of herself as different than anyone else.
Judy Heumann: The first time that I really remember someone making me feel different was when I was about eight years old. My friend and I were going to the candy store. She was pushing my wheelchair, and this young boy came over to me and said, “Are you sick?” I wished the ground would open and swallow me up. Made me realize that people saw me differently than I saw myself.
JM: Judy would go on to fight many fights to make the world better for people with disabilities. The first of those came in 1970… when she applied to be a teacher.
JH: At that point in New York City, we had to take three exams. I passed my written exam, I passed my oral exam, but I failed my medical exam. The doctor asked me how I went to the bathroom, and if I could show her. I said, well I could assure her that I knew how to do it and that if it was required of other teachers to show their children how to go to the bathroom, I’d be able to do that also.
She said I had to come back for another medical exam. So when I went back, I went in and she asked me where my crutches and braces were, and I told her I didn’t bring them. And I saw her write down ‘insubordinate.’
So when I got the denial a few months later, it was obviously not a surprise, but my father and mother had raised us that ‘don’t take no for an answer’.
I was able to get attorneys. We went to court and the judge basically told the board of Ed to give me another medical exam. And they did and it took like 10 minutes, and I got my license.
Who knew whether I was going to be a good teacher or not? Nobody really knows that until you’re in the classroom. But what would I say? How would I feel, if I didn’t try?
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JM: Judy’s lawsuit was the first ever disability rights case brought to federal court. She went on to teach for three years.
During that time, she received letter after letter… from people telling her how they had been discriminated against. So she founded the activist organization Disabled in Action… and helped push through many laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Up next…
Isaiah Acosta (AC): My name is Isaiah Acosta. We’re in Phoenix, Ariz. I’m here with my
mom.
JM: That’s Isaiah Acosta. He’s speaking by typing into an app, which then turns his words into audio. He communicates this way because he was born with a condition called agnathia— which means he doesn’t have a lower jaw. Because of this, and several other health issues, doctors didn’t think he would live for more than a few hours after being born.
When Isaiah brought his mom, Tarah, to StoryCorps… he was 18… and just about to graduate from high school.
Tarah Acosta (TA): How would you describe yourself?
IA: Funny, wild, loving.
TA: You love to laugh. You’re high maintenance.
IA: Mmhmm. [Laughs]
IA: How would you describe my personality to someone who’s never met me?
TA: At home you drive me crazy. You have to have a haircut every week. You have to have your eyebrows threaded. You do more stuff than I do to myself.
IA: (Laughs) You and Dad raised me like a normal kid. But when I was in grade school, kids asked me, like, what’s wrong with my face? Then I realized I look different.
TA: Why have you refused the possibility of having a cosmetic jaw?
IA: I like how God made me and I don’t want to change anything. I like the way that I am.
What was going through your mind when I was born?
TA: I didn’t see you as the baby with no jaw and all the tubes and wires breathing for you. I just seen you, and you were my baby. They told us you weren’t going to last through the night. But we told the doctors to keep working on you and you kept fighting to be here.
TA: I don’t wanna say my life was on hold, but I…I could never work after I had you. You required all my hands-on 24 hours a day, you know? And my life was all you, your life is all me, and you’re, like, my best friend that’s stuck to my hip. (Laughs)
IA: (Laughs)
TA: But I… I know you’re embarrassed when I go with you to concerts.
IA: Mm-hmm. (Laughs)
TA: I like Cardi B, like you. (Laughs)
IA: (Laughs)
IA: What is it like seeing me prepare to graduate from high school?
TA: I think it’s just so many emotions at one time. I mean, we were never supposed to see this day. And all the things that you are going through now are big moments for me, because I’d turned 18 right before I had you. So, like, you graduating, I didn’t get to do that. I never even went to prom. So to be honest with you, it’s just a big day for all of us.
IA: I admire you so much. Everything that I’m doing is for you guys.
TA: You want to do it all, whether it’s scary or not scary. That’s something that I’ve never done, and I’m still trying to learn with you. You show me how to live.
IA: You drive me crazy 24/7 but I love you. I don’t know what I would do without you. Thank you for not giving up on me.
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JM: Tarah Acosta and Isaiah Acosta in Phoenix, Arizona.
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JM: When we come back… a mom has a question for her daughter:
Bonnie Brown: Has my disability affected your life?
JM: Stay with us…
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JM: Bonnie Brown loves being a mom. That’s not something that has always been well-received by other people… because she has an intellectual disability.
She brought her daughter, Myra, to StoryCorps to talk about motherhood. At the time… Myra was 15 years old.
Myra Brown: When you found out you were pregnant with me, like, what did you think?
Bonnie Brown: I was very happy, and I was also scared.
MB: Why were you scared?
BB: Because I hadn’t ever been pregnant before. I never had, really, an idea of how to care for a baby.
MB: Did you ever feel like I was too much to handle, like ever?
BB: No. I think because I’m different it might seem hard for me, but I was going to give it all I got no matter what.
MB: When I was a kid, I didn’t realize that you were different. And you actually had to tell me because I wasn’t figuring it out.
BB: I said to you, I said, ”Myra, I know I am not like your friends’ mothers, but I’m doing the best I can.” And you said, ”It’s ok, Mommy.” And that made me feel so good.
Has my disability affected your life?
MB: I guess–it was third grade, and you had to go in for my parent-teacher conference. And, like as a disclosure, I was like, ”My mom’s disabled.” But the day after the interview, my teacher said that you seemed really intelligent. And that made me feel embarrassed. (Laughs)
BB: Why?
MB: Because I kind of felt bad that I had said that and then you had gone and you’d been fine.
BB: No offense taken. You were just giving her a heads up, right?
MB: Yeah.
MB: What’s the hardest thing that you’ve overcome?
BB: Being hurt from people, not physical but just like…
MB: Like emotionally?
BB: Yeah, yeah.
MB: There were times when we would go out, and people would just blatantly stare. And I would say something. I guess I am kind of protective. (Laughs)
BB: I am really thankful because you understand me, and you love me, and you accept me. And thank you for that.
MB: I don’t know, you kind of make it seem like I tolerate you–I love you. You’re a good parent and just because you’re disabled doesn’t mean that you do anything less for me. You want me to succeed.
BB: Yes I do. I want you to make something of yourself.
MB: I want you to know that, even though our situation is unique, I’m happy that I am in it, because I am happy that I am with you.
BB: Thank you Myra, and I feel the same way. I won’t never change it for anything in this world.
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JM: Bonnie Brown and her daughter, Myra Brown, in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.
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For our last story…
Melva Washington Toomer (MWT): My name is Melva Washington Toomer. The storyteller is my father.
John Carter Washington (JW): My name is John Carter Washington. Is there any questions?
<SOUNDBITE OF TYPING>
JM: That sound right there is a TeleBraille machine— a device that helps deaf and blind people like John communicate. During the recording, Melva typed her questions, and they were turned into braille… which John could then read and answer. John’s late wife was also blind and deaf, and they raised three kids together.
JW: You were my first child, I was so glad you were born. I cannot express the way I feel when I held your sweet little body. I kissed you, I loved you. Oh Melva, I was so proud when I started taking you out with me. You’d take me by the hand, and lead me where you wanted to go.
MWT: (Typing) Do you have any favorite stories about raising us?
JW: Do you… raising us?
(Laughs) One night I did catch you trying to sneak out.
MWT: (Laughs) We knew our parents couldn’t see, and we used to slip out at night, so Daddy started sleeping in front of the door.
JW: (Laughs) One story is, I was getting ready to give Warren a bath, but, as I picked him up to put him in the tub, he said, “Daddy, I’ve got my shoes on.” (Laughs)
MWT: (Typing) What were some of your proudest moments?
JW: What are my proudest moments?
Well, I did not graduate from high school. So I began to read books in braille to learn the ways of life. And then I taught people to read braille. So if I could help some person, then my living will not be in vain.
MWT: (Typing) Do you have any questions for me?
JW: Do you have questions…?
MWT: For me?
JW: Yes, I’m 95, and I might live to be 100, what are you going to do with me?
MWT: I am going to take care of you the best I can.
JW: You’re doing a wonderful job. God bless you.
MWT: Daddy, I thank you for the interview.
JW: Oh, you’re welcome. Thank you Melva.
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JM: John Carter Washington and Melva Washington Toomer in Durham, North Carolina.
John helped found the first Braille magazine geared specifically toward African American readers. He died in 2017.
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JM: That’s all for this episode.
As always our voicemail line is always open. The number is 702-706-TALK. This week we want to know… if you have a disability… tell us something you wish people understood about it. The number again is 702-706-T-A-L-K. Or… you can email us at [email protected].
The stories you just heard were produced by Jo Corona, Jud Esty-Kendall, Max Jungreis, and Katie Simon. They were edited by Eleanor Vassili and myself. Special thanks to StoryCorps facilitators Luis Gallo, Mia Warren, and Carolina Escobar.
This podcast is produced by Max Jungreis. Our Senior Producer is Jud Esty-Kendall. Amy Drozdowska is our Executive Producer. And our Technical Director is Jarrett Floyd. The artwork for our podcast is created by Liz McCarty.
I’m Jasmyn Morris. Thanks for listening…
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For this episode, we celebrate the 10th year of a StoryCorps tradition: The Great Thanksgiving Listen, where we encourage young people to record an interview with an important elder in their lives using our app. We hear from a history teacher at Glenbrook South High School outside Chicago, whose students have recorded thousands of StoryCorps conversations through a class assignment.
As a college student, Sean Carter was in a car crash and sustained a traumatic brain injury. His mother, Jenny, became his full-time caregiver. In three recordings over ten years, Sean— with his mother and his twin brother, Todd— reflected on making peace with the sudden turn in their lives, and the prospect of an uncertain future.
