Iwona Hartwich

Iwona Hartwich (née Zielińska; born 6 September 1970) is a Polish disability rights activist and politician. A key organiser of the 2014 and 2018 Polish disability protests, Hartwich was elected to the Sejm in 2019, representing constituency no. 5 in Toruń.

Personal life Hartwich is from Toruń. After training as a salesperson at the School of Economics in Toruń, she married and had two children. Her eldest son Jakub (born 1994) has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Following his birth, Hartwich was unable to return to work and cared for Jakub. Jakub has taken part in protests with his mother. In 2011, she led protests outside the offices of Tusk and Bartosz Arłukowicz, the Minister of Health. She subsequently met with Jacek Kwiatkowski and Ewa Kopacz, and subsequently a law was passed increasing carer payments to 820 zł. Following this protest, Hartwich was issued with a ban from entering the Sejm until 2020. She was ultimately elected to the Sejm in the 2019 parliamentary election, receiving 10,865 votes.