On April 20, 2021, Disability Rights Advocates and Lynn S. Walsh filed a class action lawsuit against the State of Oregon and the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) on behalf of current and former people with disabilities who are incarcerated and who have been charged for the costs of the prostheses and other equipment they … Continue reading “Terrill v. State of Oregon”
On March 15, 2021, on behalf of five Pacifica residents who reside in RVs, Disability Rights Advocates, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, and the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County filed a class action lawsuit against the city to strike down a law that bans RV parking within city limits. The lawsuit argues … Continue reading “Geary v. City of Pacifica”
Indiana voters with print disabilities can now use their own assistive technology to cast their absentee ballot privately and independently, due to a historic settlement agreement reached in January 2023. As a result of the settlement, the state has agreed to acquire a new remote accessible ballot marking tool that will allow these voters to … Continue reading “American Council of the Blind of Indiana v. Indiana Election Commission”
In a landmark agreement, advocates for people who are blind obtained WarnerMedia’s pledge to increase the accessibility of HBO Max—the much-anticipated online streaming platform that was launched in May 2020. Among other commitments, the agreement provided that WarnerMedia would provide audio description on at least 1,500 hours of new and existing programming on HBO Max … Continue reading “HBO Max Structured Negotiations”
Disability Rights Advocates, Westchester Disabled on the Move, Inc., and Westchester County have reached a settlement agreement that will result in significant improvements to the County’s emergency preparedness and response programs for people with disabilities who live in, work in, or travel to the County. The agreement was reached through structured negotiations without any lawsuit … Continue reading “Westchester County Emergency Preparedness”
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 reading “Chiappetta vs. New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services”
In September 2020, DRA filed a class action suit on behalf of San Francisco’s LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired and two of its employees against payroll processing and HR giant, ADP TotalSource and its parent company Automatic Data Processing, Inc. for failing to make their industry-leading products and services accessible to blind managers and … Continue reading “LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired v. ADP TotalSource”
On July 27, 2020, disability organizations filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections for excluding North Carolinians with disabilities from their Absentee Voting program. The lawsuit charges the state agency with discrimination against voters who are unable to independently and privately mark a paper ballot due to vision disabilities. All North … Continue reading “North Carolina Council of the Blind v. North Carolina State Board of Elections”
Disability Rights Advocates is investigating the experiences of higher education students who are denied disability-related accommodations for remote learning. We would greatly appreciate if you would complete the following survey if you have confronted access barriers in remote learning. If you would prefer to share your experiences via email or phone, please contact Amy Ollove … Continue reading “Accommodations and Accessibility in Higher Education”
On June 10, 2020, Disability Rights Advocates filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the State of New York and several of its agencies. The Charge challenges the State’s bright-line rule disqualifying anyone with binocular vision lower than 20/40 from being hired as a Mental Health Therapy Aide Trainee (MHTAT), … Continue reading “Herrera v. New York State”