Disability Rights & Advocacy

Disability Rights Organizations

  • ADA National Network: Provides information, guidance, and training on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure access and inclusion for people with disabilities. It offers a range of resources including publications, technical assistance, and support for individuals and organizations seeking to comply with the ADA. The network aims to promote equal opportunity and full participation in society for all individuals with disabilities.
  • ADAPT: ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.
  • American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD): AAPD’s aims to improve the lives of people with disabilities by increasing their political and economic power. This group sponsors career and leadership programs for disabled individuals and promotes legislative action to create a more accessible world. Programs Include Advocacy, Voting, Congressional Summer Internships.
  • Disabled In Action: Based in New York, NY, Disabled in Action is a civil rights organization committed to ending discrimination against people with disabilities — all disabilities.  They fight to eliminate the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from enjoying full equality in American society.
  • National Council on Independent Living: The National Council on Independent Living is the longest-running national cross-disability, grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities. Since its inception, NCIL has carried out its mission by assisting member CILs and SILCs in building their capacity to promote social change, eliminate disability-based discrimination, and create opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in the legislative process to affect change.

Legal Advocacy and Protection

  • Disability Rights Advocates (DRA): Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is the leading nonprofit disability rights legal center in the nation. Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities nationwide.
  • Disability Rights NY: The Protection and Advocacy (P & A) System and Client Assistance Program (CAP) is a nationwide network of legally based disability rights agencies mandated by federal law to protect and advocate for individuals with disabilities. P & A agencies have the authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities, provide legal representation to people with disabilities and engage in other advocacy to advance the rights of individuals with disabilities.
  • Disability Rights Bar Association (DRBA): The DRBA is an online network of attorneys who specialize in disability civil rights law. Through the DRBA, disability rights attorneys share information, coordinate litigation and other legal representation strategies, and mentor lawyers and law students who are new to disability rights practice. The DRBA helps lawyers and individuals with disabilities pursue better cases, make more effective arguments, and understand developments in disability rights law and practice.
  • The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), founded in 1979, is a leading national civil rights law and policy center directed by individuals with disabilities and parents who have children with disabilities. Their mission is to advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities through legal advocacy, training, education, and public policy and legislative development.
  • National Disability Rights Network: The National Disability Rights Network works in Washington, DC on behalf of the Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&As) and Client Assistance Programs (CAPs), the nation’s largest providers of legal advocacy services for people with disabilities.
  • NY Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs: The Justice Center is committed to supporting and protecting the health, safety, and dignity of all people with special needs and disabilities through advocacy of their civil rights, prevention of mistreatment, and investigation of all allegations of abuse and neglect so that appropriate actions are taken.

Other Resources

  • Service Animals and The ADA: A resource of the U.S Department that answers the most frequently asked questions about service animals and the ADA.

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