Janni Lehrer-Stein

DRA is proud to honor Janni Lehrer-Stein with the 2025 Edith Prentiss Award, which we bestow annually on a disability justice advocate demonstrating the same fire, passion, knowledge, and relentlessness that made Edith Prentiss such an impactful voice for people with disabilities. Janni not only demonstrates Edith’s passion, but also ignites the fire in others so that they also effect change.

A former DRA Board Member and current Advisory Board member, Janni Lehrer-Stein is a nationally recognized disability rights advocate, retired attorney, and nonprofit leader with a longstanding commitment to advancing inclusion and accessibility. Appointed twice by President Barack Obama to the National Council on Disability, Janni has shaped national policy on transportation, healthcare, technology, and international disability rights.

Her service includes appointments to The Committee for Preservation of the White House, the NIH National Advisory Eye Council and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Forum on Aging, Independence and Disability. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Foundation Fighting Blindness and continues to provide leadership in disability research and advocacy through advisory roles.

A longtime strategist in national politics, Janni raised disability awareness and funds for the 2012 campaigns through the present day for Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional candidates, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, among others.  She co-chaired the Biden-Harris 2020 disability campaign, led the campaign’s disability policy task force, and advised Vice President Kamala Harris through 2025. Janni currently serves as a national Trustee and chairs of the Public Policy and Research Committee for the American Foundation for the Blind. She led re-organization of for Disability Power and Pride, a national organization supporting emerging disability leaders and inclusive political appointments, and recently completed two terms on the Democratic Convention Rules Committee and as an at-large member of the DNC. Janni was a founding member of the DNC Disability Council in 2017 and served as Vice chair of the DNC Disability caucus, created in 2020.