In August 2023, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and Disability Rights California (DRC) released a report, “Youth in Crisis: How Kings County Locks Up Youth With Disabilities.” This report outlines findings from a multi-year investigation of the conditions at the Kings County Juvenile Center. Read the full report with recommendations and images of the facility. DRA … Continue reading “Kings County Juvenile Center”
In May 2023, DRA filed a federal class action lawsuit against the City of Oakland on behalf of two people with mobility disabilities for denying them full and equal access to the City’s pedestrian rights of way, a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and California … Continue reading “Curran v. City of Oakland”
In August 2023, DRA filed a lawsuit against the City of Berkeley on behalf of three disabled members of the Berkeley Commission on Disability for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to allow them to attend Commission meetings remotely as an accommodation unless they subject themselves to burdensome, dangerous, and invasive requirements. Read … Continue reading “Fisher v. City of Berkeley”
In May 2023, DRA and DREDF filed a group complaint with the United States Department of Justice on behalf of four law school graduates with disabilities against the State Bar of California for consistently violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide accommodations on the California bar exam. Read the complaint. The State … Continue reading “Complainants v. State Bar of California”
In 2022, DRA joined the plaintiffs’ counsel team in Disability Rights Tennessee’s lawsuit on behalf of several d/Deaf Tennesseans with intellectual and developmental disabilities and/or mental health disabilities and Disability Rights Tennessee to challenge the State of Tennessee’s failure to ensure that effective communication is provided to d/Deaf people who receive services from the Tennessee … Continue reading “Battle v. Tennessee”
As Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center welcomes increasing numbers of visitors back to the stadium to enjoy Kings games, concerts, and other events, community members who are blind or have low vision will notice improvements to the stadium’s online ticket purchase platform. These improvements are thanks to a February 2023 collaboration between the Golden 1 Center, … Continue reading “Golden 1 Center Ticketing Platform Partnership”
In October 2022, DRA, ACLU Foundation of Northern California, Legal Aid of Sonoma County, and California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. filed suit against the city of Sebastopol for enacting an ordinance that prohibits vehicles “used for human habitation” from parking anywhere within city limits during the day. This action, aimed at driving the city’s most … Continue reading “Yesue v. Sebastopol”
Since 2020, Disability Rights Advocates and the Law Offices of Wendy Musell have represented a group of Deaf civilian employees, applicants, and former employees in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) case against the United States Air Force—which, despite its $190 billion annual budget, has consistently failed to provide Deaf employees and applicants with American … Continue reading “Weimer v. U.S. Air Force”
This lawsuit filed in March 2020 on behalf of a group of people with hearing disabilities who are incarcerated in Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) facilities challenges TDOC’s failure to provide effective communication to people who are deaf and hard of hearing and enable them to access the same programs and services as non-disabled people. Plaintiffs … Continue reading “Trivette v. Tennessee Department of Correction”
In July 2022, DRA filed a lawsuit in the Western District of Washington against Providence St. Joseph Health for the health care company’s failure to ensure effective communication for Deaf patients seeking medical care at Providence’s Seattle-area facilities. DRA’s clients, all of whom are Deaf and use ASL as their primary method of communication, had … Continue reading “Spencer v. Providence St. Joseph Health”