March 6, 2003
Washington D.C. — As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), supporters of private-school vouchers are touting a little-known Florida program as a model for improving special education. Pro-voucher forces are also backing bills in at least four states - Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii and Oklahoma - that would create programs patterned after Florida's 1999 McKay voucher law. One of the McKay law's most enthusiastic promoters has dubbed the program the "Florida Miracle," but a report released today debunks this myth, raising serious concerns about financial abuse and the law's impact on parents' rights and special education services.
Press Releases
California Supreme Court Decides Disability Rights Case
February 20, 2003
Berkeley, California — The California Supreme Court today announced its decision in Colmenares v. Braemar Country Club, the first case in a decade that the state high court has heard involving the issue of what constitutes a disability under California state law. The case looked at the contested question of whether California disability rights laws afford broader protections for people with disabilities than the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Mr. Colmenares was represented in the high court by Joseph M. Lovretovich and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc. (DREDF). DREDF attorney Linda D. Kilb argued the case on December 4, 2002.
Mary Lou Breslin Selected to Receive Prestigious Award
January 28, 2002
Berkeley, California — Mary Lou Breslin, a co-founder of the Berkeley's Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and a highly passionate, respected and effective advocate on behalf of people with disabilities in the U.S. and around the world for more than 25 years, has been selected by a national jury to receive the prestigious Henry B. Betts Award. The presentation of a $50,000 cash award will be made to Ms. Breslin at the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Leadership Gala on February 27, 2002 in Washington, DC.
Disability Rights Lawsuit Against Oakland Taxi Company
August 27, 2001
Berkeley, California — One of Oakland's largest taxi services, Friendly Cab Company, Inc., is charged with discriminating against passengers who use guide dogs, according to a lawsuit that will be filed on Wednesday, July 11, 2001, in Alameda County Superior Court. The suit will be filed by the Berkeley-based Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc. (DREDF), on behalf of Oakland residents Claude Everett and Constance Kelley, both of whom are blind and who rely on guide dogs. The lawsuit is brought exclusively under California law, which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and guarantees their right to be accompanied by guide dogs.
Judge Says Laguna Honda Residents Can Sue City of San Francisco
July 14, 2001
San Francisco, California — Judge Saundra Armstrong of the U.S. District Court has upheld the rights of several people with disabilities who live at Laguna Honda Hospital, and the Independent Living Center San Francisco, to pursue a lawsuit alleging that the City and County of San Francisco is violating their civil rights.
Civil Rights Advocates Decry Supreme Court Decision
February 21, 2001
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc. (DREDF), the country's leading disability civil rights organization, expressed dismay at today's Supreme Court decision limiting the enforcement of Title I of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. By the narrowest of margins, 5-4, the Court held in Garrett that state employees are not protected if their employers discriminate against them because of disability. The case involved two state employees with disabilities in Alabama — Patricia Garrett, a registered nurse with breast cancer, and Milton Ash, a security officer with asthma and sleep apnea, both of whom suffered discrimination in their jobs because of their disabilities.
Good News Ahead for Amtrak Thruway Bus Passengers in California
September 8, 2000
Berkeley, California — Beginning in Fall 2000, Amtrak guests with mobility disabilities using wheelchairs who ride Thruway Buses will enjoy consistent access advantages in California travel. The planned benefits were are announced today by America's national passenger railroad, and by bus companies Serendipity Land Yachts and Antelope Valley Bus Company who operate Thruway bus service for Amtrak in California.
Class-Action Lawsuit Demands Real Homes not Nursing Homes
July 13, 2000
San Francisco, California — Ten plaintiffs will be filing a class action lawsuit in United States District Court on July 12, 2000, seeking access to community-based long-term care services to avoid unnecessary institutionalization in nursing facilities. The lawsuit alleges that the City and County of San Francisco, as well as several state agencies, are discriminating against people with disabilities by failing to utilize existing Medicaid funding and other funding sources for home and community-based services, instead committing the vast majority of available funding to institutional care. A de facto policy bias toward institutional care persists at the expense of home and community based alternatives.
California, Florida to Get First Bank of America Talking ATMs
March 15, 2000
San Francisco, California — Bank of America today announces a plan to install more than 2,500 talking ATMs in Florida and California its largest retail markets. The plan, reached in conjunction with the California Council of the Blind and several blind individuals, schedules installations of the talking ATMs over the next three years. Additional plans to install the ATMs in other states where Bank of America operates will be worked out early next year.
DREDF Government Affairs Director to Receive the George Bush Medal
February 24, 2000
Patrisha A. Wright, Director of Government Affairs at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, will be awarded the George Bush medal at a gala luncheon ceremony today in Houston. The award is presented to individuals who have "distinguished themselves in the movement for equal rights and opportunity for people with disabilities worldwide," writes the Bush Medal Committee. Past recipients include President Bush, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Ed Roberts (founder of the first Center for Independent Living), and Bengt Lindquist (special envoy on disability to the United Nations.) It was first given in 1993.