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

Planet Fitness and Coalition for Inclusive Fitness Announce Accessible Exercise Equipment Commitment Benefitting People with Disabilities

Person using a wheelchair inside of prison

Lawsuit Challenges Five Points Correctional Facility’s Denial of Mobility Accommodations to People With Disabilities

Man in wheelchair waiting for elevator outside Grand Central Subway Station in NYC

Decision by Federal Appellate Court Vindicates the Rights of Subway Riders 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.

Search Our Cases

You can search all of our cases or filter by Case Area or Disability.

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/Prisons/Detention, Public Entities Disability: Blind/Low Vision, Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing, Developmental, Learning Disability, Mental Disability, Mobility, Other Disability, Print Disability

Click here for community resources (English and Spanish) including information explaining the consequences of the court’s order, who it applies to, and aspects of the decision that may be useful in your advocacy. In August 2019, Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and Southern Poverty Law[…continue]

News & Current Events

DRA to Present Susan Dooha With the Inaugural Edith Prentiss Disability Justice Award September 22, 2021

To honor and celebrate Edith’s legacy of fiery, grassroots disability advocacy in New York and across the Country September 21, 2021—New York, NY—Today Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) announced, with support from the Prentiss family, that the inaugural Edith Prentiss Disability Justice Award will be bestowed upon long-time disability rights leader Susan Dooha. DRA, a[…continue]

Planet Fitness, Home of the Judgement Free Zone, and the Coalition for Inclusive Fitness, Announce Accessible Exercise Equipment Commitment Benefitting People with Disabilities September 21, 2021

Hampton, N.H. (September 21, 2021)—Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE: PLNT), one of the largest and fastest-growing global franchisors and operators of fitness centers with more members than any other fitness brand, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America, National Council on Independent Living, and American Council of the Blind (collectively “Coalition for Inclusive Fitness” or the[…continue]

Close-up of an open book atop a closed book atop a table

Court Preliminarily Approves Landmark Settlement That Improves Special Education Services in New Jersey State Prisons August 11, 2021

The case, Adam X. et al. v. New Jersey Department of Corrections and Department of Education et al., was filed in January 2017 and offers a national example for special education services in prison. August 11, 2021—Newark, NJ—The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) will drastically improve the provision of special education services for people[…continue]