Being Heumann Official Trailer: The 1977 Disability Rights Sit-In Behind Apple’s Film

Apple’s full trailer for Being Heumann puts Ruth Madeley at the center of the 1977 fight to enforce Section 504. Written and directed by Siân Heder, the film is a dramatic feature based on real events, with Mark Ruffalo playing US health, education and welfare secretary Joseph Califano Jr.

The movie opens in select theaters on November 6, 2026, before its global Apple TV premiere on November 13. Apple has not published a country-by-country list for the limited theatrical run, so the November 6 date should not be read as a guaranteed cinema opening in every market.

What the Being Heumann trailer shows

The trailer presents Judy as an organizer who is repeatedly ignored by government officials and decides that waiting is no longer an option. Madeley’s performance is surrounded by an ensemble of disabled activists preparing for, entering and sustaining the occupation of a federal office in San Francisco.

Ruffalo’s Califano is positioned on the other side of that pressure campaign. Dylan O’Brien and Madeline Delp are also among the billed cast, while Apple’s official page lists an ensemble that includes Roberta Colindrez and Ray Fisher. The trailer sells urgency, collective action and friction inside the movement; it does not make the film a documentary record of every conversation.

That distinction matters. Being Heumann dramatizes documented history with actors, a screenplay and constructed scenes. It can introduce the people and stakes, but details of the real protest are better checked against historical sources.

The true story: why protesters occupied the building

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibited disability discrimination in programs receiving federal financial assistance. The law existed, but the federal regulations needed to enforce it had been delayed for years.

According to the US National Park Service’s history, disability-rights groups launched protests in cities across the United States on April 5, 1977. Most ended within days. The occupation of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare offices at 50 UN Plaza in San Francisco continued for 26 days.

Around 100 protesters with different disabilities participated in the month-long action. They organized food, medical needs, hygiene and communications inside the building while outside allies supported them. Their demand was clear: publish the Section 504 regulations without weakening them. The regulations were ultimately signed, making the San Francisco action a landmark in US disability civil-rights history.

Different summaries sometimes count the protest’s length differently, depending on whether they include the opening and closing days. Using the National Park Service’s stated 26-day occupation avoids turning that difference into a false contradiction.

Who Judy Heumann was

Judy Heumann was already an experienced organizer by 1977. She had sued after New York City denied her a teaching license because she used a wheelchair, helped establish Disabled in Action and later worked with the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley.

The National Park Service biography identifies her as an organizer and on-the-ground leader in the San Francisco protest. Her later work included roles in the Clinton administration, the World Bank and the Obama administration, as well as co-founding the World Institute on Disability. She died in 2023.

Heder’s film narrows that wider life to a decisive campaign. Its title also connects it to Heumann’s 2020 memoir, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, though Apple’s current description calls the feature based on true events rather than presenting it as a scene-for-scene adaptation of the book.

Cast and creative team

Apple describes Being Heumann as Heder’s second collaboration with Apple Original Films after CODA. The confirmed dates are November 6 for select theaters and Friday, November 13 for the global Apple TV premiere; local cinema access and the exact streaming hour can still vary.

Find more official footage in Trailers and confirmed film dates in the release calendar.