October 9: Jody Williams (b. 1950)

I have a deaf schizophrenic brother that people were mean to when I was young. I couldn't understand why people would be mean to him because he was deaf. That translated into wanting to stop bullies being mean to...people, just because they are weak.

--Jody Williams

American teacher and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jody Williams, founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, on what started her into global justice work. In a 2001 speech, she elaborated:

I'll tell you why I care. My brother was born deaf, he cannot hear a sound. My brother cannot speak. In adolescence he developed severe violent schizophrenia. He is 54 years old. My family has lived with severe disability my entire life. I have no doubt about the impact of disability on a family and a community.

I live in the United States of America where there is some possibility to help the disabled. But let me tell you there's still a lot of gaps here, too. And when I think about that reality, and I think about the people here from the poorest countries in the world trying to live with disability, trying to provide for their families when they can barely manage on a daily basis, I care very deeply and very profoundly. I feel it in my bones because of my own experience.

Williams turns 57 today. "When we began, we were just three people sitting in a room. It was utopia. None of us thought we would ever ban land mines. I never thought it would happen in just six years," she told the Boston Globe.