Disability Rights Advocates - Advancing equal rights for people with all types of disabilities nationwide.

Are you a person with a vision disability in CA who have used/plan to use MyTurn to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment? DRA wants to hear from you

Disability Rights Advocates Announces New President and CEO

Elevator and staircase inside NYC subway station

Court Certifies Class of People With Disabilities Excluded From NYC Subway System

Empty elementary school classroom with desks, chairs, etc.

Lawsuit Challenges NYC's Segregation of Staten Island Students with Disabilities

Have you been denied medication for opioid use disorder by residential treatment programs including the Salvation Army? We want to hear from you

A motion blurred photograph of a patient on stretcher or gurney being pushed at speed through a hospital corridor by doctors & nurses to an emergency room

DRA is Interested in Your Experiences at Providence Health Facilities in Washington State

Man uses headphones while reading a book

DRA Is Investigating Remote Learning in Higher Education. Take Our Survey to Help Out.

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Our Impact

Flooding and submerged benches in Buffalo, NY during April 2018 windstorm

Chiappetta vs. New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services

Case Area: Emergency Preparedness, Public Entities, Technology Disability: Blind/Low Vision

In October 2020, Disability Rights Advocates filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of blind New Yorkers and the American Council of the Blind, New York against New York state entities, challenging the inaccessibility of “NY-Alert,” a Mass Notification System intended to warn New Yorkers and visitors of emergencies and other critical information in a[…continue]

View from behind bars inside ICE detention center

Fraihat v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Case Area: Architectural Barriers, Healthcare, Jails, Public Entities Disability: Blind/Low Vision, Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing, Developmental, Learning Disability, Mobility, Other Disability, Print Disability, Psychiatric

In August 2019, Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), challenging ICE’s systemic failure to monitor its facilities, which results in[…continue]

News & Current Events

Disability Rights Advocates Announces New President and CEO March 1, 2021

March 1, 2021—Berkeley, CA—Kathy Martinez, internationally recognized disability rights leader, joins Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) today as the nonprofit legal center’s new President and CEO. “For the last three decades my focus has been to improve social and economic justice for people with disabilities, especially concerning women and people of color. We believe this will[…continue]

Court Certifies Class of People With Disabilities Excluded From NYC Subway System Due To Lack of Stair-Free Access In Violation of NYC Human Rights Law February 23, 2021

February 23, 2021—New York, NY—Yesterday the New York Supreme Court certified a class of all people with disabilities for whom the use of stairs is difficult or impossible and who are therefore unable to access over 75% of the New York City subway. Fewer than 25% of the New York City subway’s 472 stations[…continue]

Lawsuit Challenges New York City’s Segregation of Staten Island Students with Disabilities January 26, 2021

January 26, 2021 – Staten Island, NY – Today attorneys filed a major class action lawsuit challenging New York City’s segregated school system for students with disabilities on Staten Island. The lawsuit alleges that New York City’s separate school district for children with disabilities, known as District 75, denies these students an equal[…continue]