Naomi Tsipora Walker never let her disability keep her from achieving her personal and professional goals.
Diagnosed with familial dysautonomia, a rare genetic neurological condition, she battled life-threatening medical complications from birth.
Even with feeding tubes and extended hospital stays, back braces and giving up food and drink, Walker kept an optimistic outlook and never complained. She earned a law degree and became a catalyst for change that helped make life better for Georgians with disabilities, family and friends said.
“She was a warrior and unrelenting in her advocacy work and had a great sense of justice,” said Ruby Moore, executive director of the Georgia Advocacy Office, a nonprofit charged with protecting the rights of the state’s disabled residents.
“She was a fierce attorney, but she did it with a lot of love. This was her calling,” Moore added. “She made every day that she had matter, and worked with a sense of urgency because she realized that every day of her clients’ lives mattered and that they had worth and should not be cast aside. If other people worked half as hard as Naomi, the world would be a much better place.”
Walker of Atlanta died Dec. 19 of complications related to her medical condition. She was 46. Her graveside service was Dec. 21 at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs.
Born on Jan. 16, 1969, in Chattanooga, Walker grew up in Atlanta. From the start, she faced frequent bouts of pneumonia, lung infections, decreased pain or temperature sensitivity, osteoporosis, fainting, poor motor skills and impaired growth. Yet she achieved a successful career, and her parents encouraged her independent spirit and taught her that she could have a fulfilling life.
Deeply affected by her father, a Holocaust survivor, she grew up in a home that instilled values she embraced early on: social justice and tolerance. Her outgoing personality, optimistic spirit and empathy drew a diverse circle of friends.
“She was very sweet, but her sweetness was not acquiescence. She was tough as nails,” said her mother, Ruth Walker of Sandy Springs. “We educated her to live in a world where everyone is not kind and generous and caring. We did not rush to rescue her from every little thing. We wanted her to learn to save herself.”
In elementary school, her strong resolve gained her the respect of schoolmates who didn’t focus on her tiny stature, scoliosis and poor coordination. Instead of sprinting ahead during schoolyard races, they would jog alongside her and cheer her every awkward stride to the finish line.
After graduating from Oglethorpe University and receiving her law degree from Emory University, she landed her dream job as an attorney with the Georgia Advocacy Office, and worked there until her death.
During her 21-year tenure she worked to improve access to care, jobs and assistive technology to improve the quality of life for disabled people.
She also was known for taking nursing home directors and doctors to task to get them to improve care and to make sure her clients were protected from abuse, neglect and discrimination.
She also partnered with Tools For Life, a state program to help more disabled people gain access to assistive-technology devices for independent living. She joined the successful fight to get Medicaid coverage for the devices and helped with efforts to transition disabled Georgians out of nursing homes and institutions.
In her passion for her work she would sometimes put aside her own health needs or reject medical procedures that would affect her quality of life, family and friends said. “She never thought of herself as disabled,” her mother said. “We would beg her not to work when we’d see that she was not feeling good. She was selfless, and she enjoyed her life.”
In 2000, she met Barbaro Ponce. Although Jewish and a Democrat who hated guns, she hit it off with the Catholic, Republican former Paralympic marksman.
Two years later, they were married. Each year, he gave her a gift at Hanukkah, and she gave him a Christmas present.
“We both complemented each other. She was my better half. She completed me,” Ponce said.
On her last evening, she enjoyed dinner with her husband to celebrate his birthday.
“She died on her own terms,” he said. “She never let her disability keep her from helping others or leading a normal life.”
In addition to her husband and mother, Walker is survived by her father Ben Walker and her sister Ronit Walker of Atlanta.
About the Author
