A tireless advocate for disabled people who helped draft the Americans with Disabilities Act. She carried a pocket copy of the Constitution to encourage others to speak for themselves. Four feet six inches tall, she used a cane and a mobility scooter. She was flying to a grant-writing seminar in Reno to become better at her work.

Killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 11 September 2001. The aircraft had left Newark forty-two minutes late, which is the only reason those aboard learned by telephone what had already happened in New York before theirs was taken. They had about thirty minutes. They voted, and they went forward at the cockpit door. The aircraft never reached what it was aimed at.