School Updates
On Feb. 2, 2022, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work and the Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP) hosted the Florence Gibbs Momeyer Endowed Lecture featuring lawyer and human rights activist Haben Girma as part of CRSP’s 20th anniversary celebration. Pitt Social Work graduate Alan Momeyer (MSW ’72) and his brother, Richard Momeyer, established the annual lecture in 2021 to recognize the legacy of their mother, a pioneering Pennsylvania social worker and advocate for children.
As executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens, Florence Gibbs Momeyer filed a landmark lawsuit in 1971 against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that ultimately guaranteed children with disabilities the right to an education in public schools. As the first right-to-education suit in the country, Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania played a critical role in the fight for educational access for children with disabilities.
The school selected Girma as the inaugural Momeyer Lecture speaker because of her own pioneering path. Girma is the child of refugees and the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. The civil rights lawyer and public advocate spoke during her virtual lecture on topics ranging from ableism and accessibility to race and language. She described ableism as a persistent problem in American society that affects us all. She explained, “Ableism comes up in our schools, in government policies, in employment. It is so widespread that a lot of people don’t notice it. ... Ableism is so widespread that it’s considered fact rather than a systemic problem.”
Girma said that she has faced more obstacles in her life stemming from ableism than from her disability status. These have included being denied employment and educational opportunities, having her contributions marginalized, and being told she would not succeed by people in positions of power. As the child of refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea, she also has faced racial discrimination.
Girma sees many opportunities for people with disabilities to change the world for the better. “The dominant narrative is [that] disability is a burden on society,” she said. “I had to learn to define disability for myself. And I found that disability is often an opportunity for innovation. If you can’t do something one way, there are other, alternative ways to do those things.”
She encouraged others to rethink their perceptions of disability status as a weakness or shortcoming and urged institutions to create opportunities to allow people with disabilities to fully participate in public life.
Girma has received numerous accolades for her work. She’s been honored by former President Barack Obama as a White House Champion of Change, has been included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and has received the Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind. Her memoir, “Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law,” has been featured in The New York Times and O, The Oprah Magazine, and on the “Today” show.
Nearly 300 attendees from around the country tuned in to hear Girma’s virtual lecture.
The Florence Gibbs Momeyer Endowed Lecture is an annual lecture program presented by Pitt Social Work and CRSP that features leading speakers on the topics of rights, equity, access, and inclusion. The 2023 Momeyer Lecture featuring Temple Grandin, PhD, was held on Wednesday, March 1.