Rebecca Williford

Position: DRA President & CEO
Email: rwilliford@dralegal.org
Board of Directors, Staff Leadership

Rebecca S. Williford is a globally recognized disability community leader and attorney with extensive experience litigating class action lawsuits on behalf of people with disabilities.  Her first job at DRA was as a legal fellow, and she has built her career at DRA, becoming the organization’s President & CEO in April 2023.  As President & CEO of DRA, she leads the organization’s work from its Berkeley, New York, and Chicago offices.

As an ardent disability rights litigator, she has achieved multiple precedents on matters of first impression, advancing the rights of people with disabilities throughout the country. For example, in Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled v. Bloomberg, she litigated a class action to a successful trial verdict, on behalf of more than 900,000 people with disabilities in a challenge to New York City’s failure to address their needs in its disaster plans.  In Legal Services for Prisoners with Children v. Ahern, she litigated a taxpayer action that resulted in a court-enforceable settlement agreement that will ensure dramatic improvements to basic accessibility for people with disabilities housed in one of the largest county jails in the United States.  In American Council of the Blind v. Hulu, she represented people who are blind and have low vision, resulting in Hulu’s agreement to make its website and software applications accessible via screen readers and to increase audio description tracks for streaming content. 

A steadfast leader and mentor in the disability community for the last two decades, Rebecca speaks frequently at legal and disability conferences.  She was named to Diversability’s D-30 Disability Impact List, alongside disability community leaders worldwide for her accomplishments as a global disability leader.  She is also a member of Disability Lead and serves on Disability Lead’s Board of Directors.  She is a co-editor of Lawyers, Lead On: Lawyers with Disabilities Share Their Insights (ABA Press 2011), a past Commissioner of the American Bar Association Commission on Disability Rights, and a past Board Member of the Disability Rights Bar Association.  From 2006 to 2009, she served a Governor appointment on the North Carolina Statewide Independent Living Council.  As a law student, she also co-founded and served as president of the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities.

Rebecca earned her B.A. in political science with highest honors and her J.D. as a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Her lived experience as a wheelchair-user since adolescence informs and motivates her career.