Harriet McBryde Johnson

Harriet McBryde Johnson (July 8, 1957 – June 4, 2008) was an American author, attorney, and disability rights activist. She was disabled due to a neuromuscular disease and used a motorized wheelchair.

Johnson, who was born in eastern North Carolina, lived most of her life in Charleston, South Carolina. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in History from Charleston Southern University (1978), a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the College of Charleston (1981), and a Doctor of Law degree (J.D.) from the University of South Carolina (1985).

In 2002 Harriet Johnson debated Peter Singer, challenging his belief that parents ought to be able to euthanize their disabled children. "Unspeakable Conversations," Johnson's account of her encounters with Singer and the pro-euthanasia movement, was published in the New York Times Magazine in 2003. It also served as inspiration for The Thrill, a 2013 play by Judith Thompson partly based on Johnson's life.

Concerning the attention her writings about the Terri Schiavo case received by the press, she commented:

"It’s frustrating to me that it boiled down in the popular discussion to a conflict between right-to-life and right-to-die. I don’t think that’s it at all. I think that we ought to analyze the case in terms of disability discrimination."

She published a memoir, Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life, in 2005 and a novel, Accidents of Nature, in 2006.

During her career as an attorney she specialized in helping people who couldn't work get Social Security benefits. She was also chairwoman of the Charleston County Democratic Party. She once described herself as a "disabled, liberal, atheistic Democrat". She expressed support for Congress during the Terri Schiavo case.

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