What’s All The Buzz About?
Spring is here. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and so are DRA’s New York and California offices. What’s all the buzz about? Here’s a breakdown:
Why Does DRA Exist?
- School children with disabilities frequently aren’t receiving necessary services or equal access to education.
- In medical settings, hospital patients with disabilities can’t access life-saving information and services.
- Wheelchair users can’t access the transportation they need (Lyft, Uber, or mass transit) to travel to their homes, jobs, children’s schools, or appointments.
- University students with mental health disabilities routinely experience punitive, illegal, and discriminatory treatment.
- Municipalities too often ignore the needs of people with disabilities in their emergency preparedness planning—leaving their most vulnerable citizens to perish when disasters strike.
Nearly 1 in 5 of us has a disability in the United States and all of us will have a disability at some point in our lives. DRA exists for ALL OF US—to advance equal rights and opportunities for people with all types of disabilities nationwide.
What Does DRA Do?
DRA provides high-quality, free legal representation for people with disabilities. Through class-action litigation, structured negotiations, monitoring, media, education, and advocacy, DRA removes barriers to full participation in society—transforming discriminatory systems and practices so that people with disabilities achieve equality.
What Are the Results?
Setting precedents case by case, for 26 years and counting, DRA has transformed the fabric of American society. In the last two months alone DRA has:
- Received preliminary approval for a settlement that dramatically improves accessibility of New York City’s sidewalks
- Reached a landmark settlement that will result in an emergency preparedness plan at Sacramento International Airport—ensuring people with disabilities are not left behind when disaster strikes
- Attained a groundbreaking federal court ruling likely to lead to more elevators in the New York City subway
- Received final approval for a class action settlement that will drastically improve access for inmates with mobility disabilities at the Santa Clara County Jails
- Brought about the most comprehensive settlement ever to make voter registration and election information accessible to millions of blind voters
How Can You Help?
DRA is the ONLY national non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to taking on the systemic and often risky cases that result in critical civil rights protections benefitting millions of people with disabilities. We can’t do this work without resources for hiring talented attorneys, experts and legal fellows and conducting outreach, education, and monitoring. In short, we can’t continue this work without YOU.
Your generous gift this spring will ensure DRA’s offices continue buzzing—producing victory after victory in 2019 and beyond.
We appreciate every dollar you donate, and we promise to put your investment to GREAT use.
(image: signatures and titles of DRA’s Managing Directors)
P. S. Donating securities and/or making a bequest to DRA are the best and easiest ways to give more (and take advantage of tax incentives). More information on donating securities (including a downloadable stock transfer form) and planned giving is available on DRA’s website.