UNC Asheville's Equal Access student group will host a reading by Harriet McBryde Johnson, a noted disability rights attorney from Charleston, S.C., at 7 p.m. Monday, March 31, in UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union, Mountain Suites. Johnson will read from her memoir, "Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life." The event is free and open to the public.

Johnson has practiced law in Charleston since 1985, with a focus on disability rights. Despite being born with congenital neuromuscular disease that left her unable to walk, dress or bathe without assistance, she graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina Law School. Johnson also holds a bachelor's degree in history from Charleston Southern University and a master's degree in public administration from College of Charleston.

Johnson has received honors and awards from the National Lawyers Guild, the Charleston Branch NAACP and the American Association for People with Disabilities. In January 2003, she was named one of the 12 "Women of Power and Grace" by the Charleston Chronicle, and she was the 2003 Person of the Year from New Mobility Magazine. In 2005, the City of Charleston proclaimed April 12 as "Harriet McBryde Johnson Day."

Johnson has also published two books. Her memoir, "Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life," was published in 2005. In 2006, Henry Holt for Young Readers published "Accidents of Nature," her novel about growing up with a disability.

For more information, call UNC Asheville's Sociology Department at 828/251-6426.