Johnnie Lacy (1937–2010). Growing up in the Jim Crow South, Ms. Lacy was acutely aware of the too numerous acts of discrimination against her and her fellow African Americans.
At age 19, Lacy was diagnosed with polio and eventually needed a wheelchair to get around. From then on,
she also became a disability advocate and self-advocate in the struggle to be able to attend university (a right not guaranteed at the time) and for the resources to live independently in the community.