July 2014 E-Newsletter

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IN THIS EDITION:

24 Years With the ADA: DRA Charges On!

Eagle and Turkey Awards: Save the Date!

DRA’s Batting 5 for 5 in New York!

DRA is a Great Place to Launch Your Public Interest Career!

DRA Impact Report: Learn About Our Most Recent Updates!

24 Years with the ADA: DRA Charges On!

Dear DRA Supporters,

Twenty four years ago on July 26, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President George W. Bush.  The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life and, for the last 21 years, has provided a critical platform for DRA’s life-changing work.

Sid Wolinsky and I established DRA in 1993.  At that time, no other non-profit legal center existed to focus on high-impact, class-action litigation, enforce the ADA and protect the civil rights of the millions of disabled and elderly citizens across the United States.  For the last 21 years, DRA has taken on hundreds of precedent-setting cases, creating significant, positive changes for people with disabilities: prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, transportation, education and many other basic rights.

On the 24th Anniversary of the ADA and in our organization’s 21st year, DRA has much to celebrate.  And there remains much work to do.  In this summer newsletter you’ll learn about our ongoing impact:

  • Creating taxi cabs for all,
  • Ensuring all voters can exercise their free and independent right to vote and,
  • Eliminating dangerous sidewalks to ensure smooth navigation for the millions of Americans who travel city streets in wheelchairs, with walkers, and strollers.

Finally, I want to personally invite you to get more deeply engaged with the DRA family. You can apply to join the DRA team as a summer law clerk or fellow, you can attend a DRA event (don’t forget to calendar November 19th for DRA’s Eagle and Turkey Awards Luncheon in San Francisco), you can submit an Eagle or Turkey nomination, or contact your local DRA office to talk about other ways you’d like to get involved.

Together we can create a richer, more diverse, accepting and inclusive society.

Happy ADA Anniversary,

Larry Paradis
Executive Director & Co-Director of Litigation

Eagle and Turkey Awards: Save the Date!

 

 November 19, 2014

11:30 AM—1:30 PM

Contemporary Jewish Museum

San Francisco, CA

 

Save Wednesday, November 19th for DRA’s Eagle and Turkey Awards Luncheon at the Jewish Contemporary Museum in San Francisco. This fun and unique holiday‐themed event will spotlight the year’s disability heroes and expose the villains. DRA is now seeking event sponsors and nominations for disability Eagle and Turkey awardees. Visit our website to download a sponsor benefits form or an award nomination form today!

DRA’s Batting 5 for 5 in New York!

On May 21st, DRA honored our Board member and co-counsel Dan Brown of Sheppard Mullin and celebrated our outstanding 5 for 5 record in New York.  DRA in New York has taken on 5 major cases and achieved impressive progress.  Because of DRA, our partners and supporters New Yorkers now enjoy:

  • a new elevator in the Dyckman Street subway station;
  • captioning in AMC theatres across the state;
  • an emergency preparedness plan that protects disabled residents when disasters strike;
  • a taxi fleet that will become 50% accessible by 2020;
  • polling places made accessible so that everyone can exercise their free and independent right to cast their vote.

Check out photos of the event on Facebook and stay tuned for more opportunities to learn about and support DRA in New York.

 

Pictured: DRA Board Member Dan Brown
and DRA Advisory Board Member,
Steve Foresta
Pictured: DRA Senior Staff Attorney,
Julia Pinover and DRA Co-Founder,
Sid Wolinsky

DRA is a Great Place to
Launch Your Public Interest Career!

Want to join DRA’s dynamic legal team in California or New York?  DRA is now recruiting fellows and summer law clerks for 2014/2015.  Visit our website to learn more and share these opportunities with the talented, passionate aspiring public interest law students and law school graduates in your network.

DRA Impact Report

 Taxis For All

DRA’s impact expands again.  Our work with the Taxis for All Campaign is establishing that, at a minimum, the national standard for taxi fleets should be 50% accessible vehicles.  Under the Disability Access Plan, that DRA also helped negotiate, New York’s green outer borough cabs are also slated to get there within a decade.  Read more in the New York Daily News.

The Right to Vote in New York

New York voters who use wheelchairs or have visual impairments won a major civil rights victory when a   unanimous panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit found that the Board of Elections in New York City discriminated against voters with disabilities by failing to make its poll sites accessible to voters with disabilities on Election Day.  The 2nd Circuit affirmed the relief DRA had achieved in the District Court, which requires New York City to take affirmative steps over a four-year period to ensure that voters with mobility impairments throughout all five boroughs can vote independently at their community poll sites. Read the court’s decision here and DRA’s press release here.

Safe Sidewalks

DRA is committed to ensuring that all individuals, including people with mobility disabilities, can travel safely through their cities with the same ease as their non-disabled peers.

Click here to read about the class action lawsuit filed by DRA in June against the city of Long Beach for failing to make its sidewalks and pedestrian routes accessible to wheelchair users and other persons with mobility impairments.