Be A Hero: Memorial for Ady Barkan, Activist Health Care for All & Disability Rights

Be A Hero activist, Ady Barkan, died in November from complications of ALS. While he was alive, Ady inspired millions of people to join the fight to make America’s health care system more just, equitable and humane - Health Care for All.

Be A Hero was formed after Ady Barkan—an advocate for social, economic, and racial justice— was diagnosed with ALS in 2016 and found himself thrust into a battle to save the Affordable Care Act, while fighting for his own access to health care. Ady co-founded the organization in 2018 to advance the idea that here in the richest country in the world (and everywhere) health care should be a human right guaranteed to all—not a privilege reserved for the wealthy few.

A livestream of Ady's memorial will be on Sunday, January 14 at 6pm ET / 3pm PT. The memorial will be an opportunity for us to gather as a community to remember and celebrate Ady's extraordinary contributions to our movement.

Join us for this special gathering to celebrate the life and work of Ady Barkan.


REMEMBERING ADY

Ady Barkan was a lifelong organizer and campaigner, who Politico deemed “the most powerful activist in America.” Over his career, Ady specialized in bringing policy makers face to face with the people whose lives their decisions shape, and generating public attention and political pressure out of those confrontations.

Since 2017, Ady’s work focused on health care, marshaling his own paralysis from A.L.S. to urge Americans to demand more of our government. Ady was listed as one of TIME’s 100 most influential people of 2020. In September, he received the Freedom from Want award from the Roosevelt Institute in recognition of his unapologetic work fighting for freedom from economic want and for a more just health care system in the United States.

Ady earned his juris doctorate from Yale Law School and lived in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife Rachael King and their two children Carl and Willow. Up until his death, Ady worked as the founder and Co-Executive Director of Be A Hero. His story is told in the documentary “Not Going Quietly.”