Our Mission
With offices in California and New York, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is one of the leading nonprofit disability rights legal centers in the nation. Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities nationwide.
Contact for Press Inquiries
Email: communications@dralegal.org
Phone: (510) 665-8644
Links
DRA General Information Brochure (PDF)
December 2, 2021 – New York, NY – The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) will provide desperately needed reasonable accommodations for a Bronx middle school teacher, according to an offer of judgment approved by the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier this week. Read the approved judgment … Continue reading “Federal Court Approves Settlement Providing Accessible Restroom and Other Accommodations to NYC Educator”
October 12, 2021– Alameda, CA—Earlier this week, TRE Legal Practice (TRE) and Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) filed a disability rights lawsuit in California State Court against the California Department of Insurance (CDI) for its failure to ensure the accessibility of its licensing exam for insurance agents to blind applicants. The lawsuit also includes claims against … Continue reading “Lawsuit Challenges Inaccessibility of the California Insurance Exam”
September 29, 2021 – White Plains, NY – People who are blind and use screen readers will now have independent access to life-saving information offered by “NY-Alert,” New York State’s Mass Notification System. Under a settlement agreement just reached between blind advocates and the New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), the … Continue reading “Lawsuit Provides Blind Individuals With Access to New York State’s Emergency Mass Notification System”
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 reading “DRA to Present Susan Dooha With the Inaugural Edith Prentiss Disability Justice Award”
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 reading “Planet Fitness, Home of the Judgement Free Zone, and the Coalition for Inclusive Fitness, Announce Accessible Exercise Equipment Commitment Benefitting People with Disabilities”
August 31, 2021– Romulus, NY – Yesterday, the nonprofit organizations Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York (PLS) filed a class action lawsuit against the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) on behalf of people with disabilities who are incarcerated at Five Points Correctional Facility and … Continue reading “Lawsuit Challenges Five Points Correctional Facility’s Denial of Wheelchairs, Canes, and Other Mobility Accommodations to People With Disabilities”
August 24, 2021—Riverside, CA—Yesterday, the Biden Administration took the surprising step of filing an appeal to a federal court order requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to vaccinate medically vulnerable people in its custody. The filing was in Fraihat v. ICE, which challenges the inhumane and traumatic experience of ICE detention, affecting tens … Continue reading “Advocates Decry Biden Administration’s Appeal Fighting Order to Vaccinate Medically Vulnerable People in ICE Detention”
August 24, 2021—New York, NY—Yesterday, a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of a certified class of New Yorkers with mobility disabilities who require elevators to access the New York City subway system. The Appeals Court overturned the District Court’s order in favor of … Continue reading “Decision by Federal Appellate Court Vindicates the Rights of Subway Riders With Disabilities”
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 reading “Court Preliminarily Approves Landmark Settlement That Improves Special Education Services in New Jersey State Prisons”
July 30, 2021 – New York, NY – A United States District Court approved a settlement with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) to resolve a 2017 lawsuit brought by Bronx Independent Living Services (BILS) and two students with disabilities in the Bronx, represented by Disability Rights Advocates (DRA). The class action … Continue reading “Judge Approves Settlement Ensuring Improved Access to Critical Services for Bronx Students with Disabilities”