September 8, 2023
The new provisions show HHS’s commitment to reconciling Section 504, the ADA, and key cases that together enable people with various disabilities to achieve consistent and timely access to needed healthcare, so that they can pursue their own life goals and interests. DREDF shares this commitment.
June 30, 2023 The decision ends affirmative action programs in college admissions and undermines efforts to create the diverse campuses that our nation needs.
March 7, 2023
The autonomous vehicle advocacy of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, known as DREDF, is rooted in our belief that access to safe, affordable, reliable transportation is a civil right.
July 15, 2022
DREDF applauds the US Department of Transportation's (USDOT's) recent release of its "Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights." The living document outlines 10 fundamental rights of air travelers with disabilities and the obligations of airlines (including their employees and contractors) under the Air Carrier Access Act. While the Bill of Rights does not establish new requirements for airlines, it does clarify and remind all stakeholders that disabled travelers have the right, first and foremost, to be treated with dignity and respect. [...]
June 24, 2022
Disabled people have the right to self-determination and bodily autonomy. We have the right to make our own decisions. Our human rights include reproductive rights. Abortion rights are disability rights. [...]
June 23, 2022
DREDF applauds the June 22, 2022, decision by federal district court Judge Vince Chhabria to dismiss the complaint in Shavelson v. California Department of Health Care Services, a case that seeks to eliminate the self-administration requirement of California's End of Life Options Act (EOLA). [...]
May 31, 2022
DREDF is deeply saddened by the recent deadly shootings in Buffalo, NY; Laguna Woods, CA; and most recently Uvalde, TX. Our hearts go out to the survivors, the loved ones of those lost, and the communities in mourning across our country. These acts of violence have also been particularly hard for those who fear violence because of their race, nationality, or simply because they attend or work at a school. Gun violence has remained a national crisis for far too long. More than 45,000 people are killed by guns each year in the US, a figure which includes over 1,000 people killed by law enforcement and over 100 unintentionally shot by children. These deaths represent a rate far higher than exists in other developed countries. Many more than these enormous numbers killed are survivors of gun violence. Survivors often have physical and psychological disabilities that are caused or worsened by their encounters with gun violence. [...]
May 4, 2022
People with disabilities know what it means to be denied control over our own bodies. We have been told what is good for us and what we can and cannot do, including in the area of reproductive decision-making. Abortion bans continue this legacy. Abortion bans rob all people who can become pregnant of control over their bodies and the loss is even greater for disabled BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and low income people. We stand in solidarity with reproductive rights and justice advocates who fight against the overturning of Roe v. Wade. [...]
April 14, 2022
Assisted suicide doesn't exist in a vacuum. It must be considered against the backdrop of the United States' tragic history of state-sanctioned discrimination against people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in health care settings. This sordid history includes nonconsensual experimentation, forced sterilization, the denial of essential medical care based on biased and/or inaccurate quality of their life assessments, issuing of "Do Not Resuscitate" orders without patient consent, and most recently, employing COVID crisis standards of care and health care rationing systems that explicitly, openly devalue disabled lives. [...]
December 6, 2021
On April 14, 1969 – nearly three and a half months after being sworn in, Robert Dole, a freshman Senator from Kansas – delivered his first speech on the Senate floor. It was the 24th anniversary of the day he was wounded in Italy during the final days of World War II, and not coincidentally, Dole spoke about the discrimination faced by disabled Americans. [...]