Women and Adversity:
Mary Jane Owen
Advocate for Disabled Rights
March is Women’s History Month
Mary Jane Owen, Advocate, Disabled Rights (httpsmn.govmnddcindex.html.jpeg)
People in the U.S. are accustomed to seeing “Handicapped” parking spaces and the accompanying symbol, ramps for easy access and restrooms with grip bars in the
stalls wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs. They can thank Mary Jane Owen for her relentless activism that convinced Congress to propose the Americans With
Disabilities Act that President George H.W. Bush signed into law on July 26, 1990.
Owen began demonstrating against segregation when she was 20 years old, and when she went blind 23 years later in 1972, she became an activist for the disabled. Before she lost her sight, she had
earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and was a professor at San Francisco State University. As a disabled person, she couldn’t get a job despite her education and resume. She learned to read Braille,
but when she lost feeling in her right hand, she learned to read Braille with her left one. When that hand was injured, she learned to use adapted computers. She regained partial sight, but no explanation is available.
Owen held numerous positions advocating for the disabled, including Congressional liaison and editor for the President’s Committee on Employment of the Disabled, executive director of the
National Catholic Office for People with Disabilities and Founder, CEO of Disability Focus, Inc.
She regained partial sight in the 1990s but began using a wheelchair for its convenience. However, she also had partial hearing loss. “I do have assorted disabilities,” she said. “I didn’t set out to acquire them.
There is not an experience I have had that I would trade away.”
Bio
- Born – June 8, 1929 in northern Illinois
- Both parents were Methodist-Episcopal ministers
- University of New Mexico
- New School for Social Research, New York City
- Master’s degree in social work, University of California at Berkeley
- Professor in Department of Social Work Education, San Francisco State University
- 1968-69 – chaired the United Professors of California’s grievance committee in addressing the faculty strike
- 1978 – Director of a volunteer service organization at Berkeley and testified before Congress about its success
- 1980s – Founded Disability Focus, Inc.
- 1992-2004 – Executive director of National Catholic Office for People with Disabilities
- 2002 – Named Catholic Woman of the Year by Catholic Daughters of the Americas
- 2005 – Founder and national director of Disabled Catholics in Action
Personal
- Owen lived in Washington, D.C.
- Her daughter, India, preceded her in death
- She has said India had one percent chance of living
- No information about the father is available.
- Owen passed away on July 14, 2019
Further information
https://podcasts.apple.com/ru/podcast/june-8-mary-jane-owen/id1788151887?i=1000712921567
www.npr.org/2002/0428/1142484/504-sit-in-winning-rights-for-the-disabled
deseret.com/1991/6/1/18923646/3-concepts-offered-to-help-the-disabled-meet-their-needs
My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:
Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists
