Kitty Cone
Content Warnings: Ableism, homophobia, alcoholism.
Born in 1944, Curtis Seldon Cone, better known as Kitty Cone, became one of the pivotal leaders of the Disability Rights Movement. Together with fellow BBFH, Judy Heumann, she led the 504 sit-ins which was a hugely important movement not just for Disability Rights, but for the Civil Rights movement as well. But that’s not all!
Welcome to class! Let’s dive in!
Kitty Cone was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy around age 15 after previously being misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy, and then polio. She had to wear walking casts all the time, and could not get them wet so if it was raining she had to be carried (1). She was also put through a series of surgeries which made her disability worse. “I think the worst thing you can do for a kid with muscular dystrophy is lay [them] up in bed for a long time; they lose muscles, and they don't ever get them back” (1).
Being a military brat, she’d moved around a lot as a child, but she was in even more schools than necessary due to discrimination. At one school, the headmistress made rules that only Kitty had to follow - and that she was not capable of following due to her disability. This got her expelled (2). In other schools, her cousins were forced to carry her upstairs so that she could attend her classes (2). All in all, 0/10 would not recommend.
But Kitty was not fucking around and would not just sit back and let the world be an asshole. She got involved in activism, of course. In college she became involved in student government and fought against racial segregation (1). She did not graduate collage, but as a young adult she moved to San Fransico and began advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. This was around the time she met our girl Judy Heumann. Together they led the important 504 Sit In
“Kitty was a fireball,” Heumann said in a phone interview. “The way she expressed her words was like lightning. People listened to her, and they followed her.” (qtd in 2)
As a college freshman, she started drinking and found she could not stop. “Well, other people would be able to stop, but when I drank I just drank to get drunk; that was my objective. If I didn't get drunk, what was the point of drinking?” (1). Kitty was basically a functional alcoholic - it didn’t impact her relationships or her work - but after attending a support group and admitting how much she drank, she realized it might be more than is typical. She started attending AA regularly and generally succeeded at staying sober (1).
Whether her personal experience here affected the way she advocated or not, I don’t know, but the people and organizations who were leading the 504 Sit Ins were adamant that addiction (to drugs as well as alcohol) be included in what constituted a “disability.” Kitty noted that, “The disability community nationally stuck pretty strongly together on defending alcohol and substance abusers as people with disabilities” (1). These bitches made sure that substance abuse was covered by the new regulations. That’s more progressive than we are today!
In the late 1970s, Kitty was convinced by her doctor that she should never become pregnant because of her disability and subsequent perceived inability to parent. Because she was living with a man at the time, she opted for sterilization. It wasn’t hard. Even though she knew abled women who were required to wait and think about it, and who needed their husbands’ permission, the doctor immediately agreed to Kitty’s sterilization because of her disability (1).
But then she started noticing other Disabled people who had children and she decided she could do it, too. At the time she was living with a woman named Kathy Martinez, who was blind.
“In many ways, our disabilities complemented each other, because I could help Kitty with physical tasks and she could help me with visual tasks,” Martinez said in a phone interview. “She was in a power wheelchair, and I would put on roller skates. We were kind of an iconic duo because we could speed around Berkeley a lot faster than if I was walking.” (qtd in 2)
Kitty was unable to adopt in the United States because she was deemed unfit as a “single” mother, and her disability, too, of course. But this bitch persevered and moved to Mexico for a couple of years to adopt a little boy named Jorge.
After a couple of years, Kitty moved back to the States and began working again in activism. She worked with Judy Heumann again on a research project about personal assistance programs across the US and internationally. She worked to create accessible laws for public transport. In 1990 she began working with DREDF, The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, an organization she worked with significantly in her lifetime, eventually becoming the Development Director.
So I am thankful for my disability. I feel like the constraints and the choices that it has given me have made me who I am, and you know, I like who I am (1).
People like Kitty Cone have shaped the world as we know it. Literally. She talked about how, as the ADA was being created, the government wanted to make things “separate but equal” for Disabled folx, such as providing them their own busses instead of making all busses accessible (1). And this was happening as recently as the 1980s - the ADA became law in 1990! I was alive for twelve full years before Disabled folx in the US were guaranteed access. Even today access can be limited (historical buildings are excluded*, for example) or dismissive (many “accessible” entrances are just the service entrances at the back of businesses). Kitty Cone helped guarantee access.
Fuck ableism!
You can read an extensive interview with Kitty here (source 1).
*While historic buildings are technically not exempt, there are many loopholes and vague language which allow them to skirt or avoid these rules meaning that many historic buildings are still inaccessible (4).
