Press Releases

Across California, Hospitals Are Making Matters Worse for Patients with Disabilities and Older Adults During Covid-19

August 27, 2020
Disability rights and older adult advocates from the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Disability Rights California, Justice in Aging, Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco, and Justice in Aging filed several complaints with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) over widespread policies and practices that put hospital patients with disabilities including older adults at increased risk in medical facilities across the state. The complaints seek the enforcement of federal and state disability discrimination laws and existing CDPH guidelines to ensure that persons whose support is essential to disabled hospital patients are granted admission to health facilities during COVID-19. In addition, the complaints demand that hospitals publish lawful visitation policies prominently on their websites, and guarantee that staff are familiar with existing legal requirements. [...]

Lawsuit Filed Against Alameda County for Its Failed Mental Health System

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July 30, 2020
(Oakland, CA) Today, Disability Rights California (DRC), along with Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and the Oakland-based law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho filed a federal lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against Alameda County and Alameda Health System. The lawsuit challenges the unnecessary and illegal segregation of people with mental health disabilities — especially Black people with disabilities — in psychiatric institutions and the failure to ensure people with disabilities are provided the services they need. [...]

Legal Claim Seeks Changes After Black Disabled Student is Handcuffed in Moreno Valley School District

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July 15, 2020
(Riverside, CA) - Disability Rights California, Barajas & Rivera APC, and Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund submitted a tort claim to the Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) on behalf of an 11-year-old Black student with disabilities who was discriminated against by school police. The claim gives formal notice to the District of the harm that the student endured and seeks to eliminate such discriminatory disciplinary practices and replace them with meaningful accommodations that protect and support not only students with disabilities, but all students. [...]

Resolution of Federal Civil Rights Complaint Raises the Bar in Prohibiting Medical Discrimination Against People With Disabilities During COVID-19 Pandemic

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June 26, 2020
The Arc of the United States, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and Samuel Bagenstos -- challenging states' plans for rationing medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic as discriminating against people with disabilities. Medical rationing policies have disproportionately impacted Black people with disabilities, who have higher rates of COVID-19 infection and [...]

Advocates on Crisis Standards

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June 10, 2020
On June 9, 2020, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released new “Crisis Care Guidelines” for COVID-19 that affirm that health care providers may not discriminate based on the age or disability of patients when deciding how to allocate scarce resources. The guidelines are intended for use by private and public hospitals and county health entities in situations where there are shortages in staff and equipment needed to treat critically ill COVID patients. [...]

Landmark Agreements Establish New Model for Online Accessibility in Higher Education and Business

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February 18, 2020
BOSTON—The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) announced today a landmark settlement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that institutes a series of new guidelines to make the university's website and online resources accessible for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. The settlement follows a similar agreement with Harvard University in November 2019, which together represent the most comprehensive set of online accessibility requirements in higher education and provide a new model for ensuring worldwide online and digital accessibility in academia and business for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. [...]

Disability Organizations Join Forces to Increase Census Participation Throughout California

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February 10, 2020
BERKELEY/SACRAMENTO – The California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) are acting as Statewide Community-Based Organization Outreach Partners in coordination with the California Census Office to increase participation among disabled Californians and older adults in the upcoming 2020 census which takes place April 1. [...]

National Association of the Deaf Announces Landmark Settlement with Harvard to Improve Online Accessibility

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November 27, 2019 Settlement was reached four years after this litigation began in 2015, when it was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Massachusetts as a class action lawsuit. Under the agreement, Harvard must provide captions for all online resources, including school-wide events that are live-streamed, content from department sponsored student organizations and any new audio or video hosted by third-party platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud. The individual plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit were represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, the Disability Law Center, and the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, and the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. [...]

Class Action Seeks to End Illegal and Abusive Restraints and Seclusion Practices Used Against Children with Disabilities in California

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May 15, 2019
Concord, CA, May 15, 2019 — Four elementary school children with disabilities and their parents and guardians filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the California Department of Education (CDE), directors of the Contra Costa County Office of Education, and staff at Floyd I. Marchus School to challenge the illegal and abusive use of restraints and seclusion in non-emergency situations. [...]

Agreement Reached with CMS to Ensure Accessible Delivery of Medicare Information to Blind Beneficiaries

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April 25, 2018
The National Federation of the Blind and three blind individuals represented by the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) and the law firms of Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP, and Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, P.C. have reached an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ensuring that the federal agency will distribute information about Medicare in more accessible formats going forward. Options include large print, Braille, audio, and electronic formats. The settlement resolves a 2016 lawsuit that alleged CMS discriminated against blind beneficiaries by failing to provide meaningful and equal access to Medicare information in accessible formats.