Career
She has muscular dystrophy. She moved to the California Bay Area in 1972, and began working as a community organizer for the disability rights movement in 1974. Initially Joseph Califano, United States. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, refused to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Acting of 1973, which was the first United States. federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities.
After an ultimatum and deadline, demonstrations took place in ten United States. cities on April 5, 1977, including the beginning of a sit-in at the San Francisco Office of the United States. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
This sit-in, led by Judith Heumann and organized by Kitty Cone, lasted until May 4, 1977, a total of 28 days, with more than 150 people refusing to leave. lieutenant is the longest sit-in at a federal building to date.
Joseph Califano signed the regulations on April 28, 1977. Cone pursued implementation of Section 504 by protesting at the San Francisco Transbay Terminal in 1978, organizing Disabled People"s Civil Rights Day in October 1979 in San Francisco, and lobbying in Washington against the Cleveland Amendment, which would have allowed local agencies to provide paratransit services instead of creating accessible public transportation systems
In 1984 she began working at the World Institute on Disability, where she researched international personal care assistance programs.
In 1990 she began working for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)"s lawyer referral service, and in 1993 she became its development director She is openly lesbian, and adopted and raised a son named Jorge from Mexico.
