Julianne Ethel Beckett
Julianne Ethel Beckett (November 9, 1949 – May 13, 2022) was an American teacher and disability rights activist. She lobbied for changes to Medicaid that allowed hundreds of thousands of disabled children to be cared for by their families at home. Her efforts, and those of other activists, led to the legislation and establishment of the Katie Beckett Medicaid waiver, named for her daughter Mary Katherine Beckett (1978–2012), who used a ventilator after surviving viral encephalitis in infancy. The waiver was included as a provision of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.
Career
Julie Beckett was a high school teacher, before becoming her only child's fierce advocate and full-time caregiver. She was also state director of Sick Kids Need Involved People (SKIP), and later co-founder and policy coordinator for Family Voices, a national lobbying organization. She testified before Congressional hearings several times on behalf of the complex needs of children. She remained active in Medicaid reform work after the Katie Beckett waiver was established; "my goal is that no child will ever have to go through what my child had to go through," she told a newspaper in 1995. She was honored as a child advocate in 2000, and as a local hero at the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival in 2005.
