Mary Johnson has been involved in researching and writing about disability issues since the 1970s. Her early work was with Prime Movers, Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based non-profit research group which composed disability data reports for local organizations. Johnson also helped found Louisville's Center for Accessible Living.
In 1980 Johnson founded the Advocado Press, Inc., a non-profit small press created to publish information on disability rights issues, and began publishing The Disability Rag, a publication focusing on the disability rights movement in the U.S. The publication has won several awards and is now being published under the name The Ragged Edge magazine, with Johnson its current editor.
Johnson has served as Principal Investigator for several research grants awarded The Advocado Press by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Johnson's freelance writing on disability rights issues has appeared in a number of publications including USA Today, The Nation, The New York Times and The Columbia Journalism Review.
