Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund

Legal Advocacy - DREDF represents disabled people and organizations serving people with disabilities on impact cases that further civil rights for people with disabilities. This year, DREDF and co-counsel settled a federal lawsuit on behalf of people with serious mental health disabilities against Alameda County and Alameda Health System. Under the terms of the settlement, among other things, Alameda County will expand mobile crisis teams and enhance discharge planning and coordination with community-based organizations to help avoid re-institutionalization. The County also agreed to have an independent reviewer in place for three years to review and report on the implementation of the terms of the agreement.We continued to litigate in the case against the State of California and Pittsburg Unified School District (PUSD) alleging that PUSD has maintained a separate, unequal, and illegal educational system where Black students, children of color with disabilities, and English learners have been segregated in substandard learning environments, excluded from classrooms altogether through the use of unwarranted suspensions and expulsions, and as a result, denied their constitutional right to a public education. We are litigating a case against Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) for repeatedly handcuffing and restraining a Black disabled student (C.B.). DREDF and co-counsel filed the lawsuit in federal court alleging that MVUSD and Riverside County discriminates against students with disabilities with a demonstrated bias toward Black students in its disciplinary practices.We also continued to litigate a case seeking that Kaiser Foundation Health Plan provide effective coverage of wheelchairs needed by people with disabilities. We represent the interests of disabled people who need wheelchairs to remain mobile, stay healthy, commute to work, and participate fully in community life, challenging exclusions and limitations that are discriminatory and a violation of the Affordable Care Act's "essential health benefit" guarantees.As an IOLTA Support Center, DREDF provided significant legal training, legal technical assistance, and advocacy support to California IOLTA legal services programs on disability civil rights. We conducted statewide trainings for legal aid attorneys on the rights of disabled people, examining common disability access barriers, housing rights, and disabled students educational rights. Examples of our trainings focusing on housing rights can be found at httpsdredforgpublicpolicyhousingD... regularly files amicus briefs in the appellate courts and the US Supreme Court.

National Disability Policy and Research - DREDF conducts research, monitors public policy development and provides technical assistance on issues affecting the civil and human rights of people with disabilities and advocates for the rights of people with disabilities.In 2023, one of our focuses was protecting the freedom of people with disabilities to marry and form families with those they love. Millions of disabled Americans cannot marry without risking access to vital healthcare, community supports, and other disability benefits. DREDF is working alongside organizations and advocates across the country to protect the freedom of people with disabilities to marry and form families with their chosen partners. We also directed resources to ensuring that developing public policy and legislation aimed at ensuring that emerging artificial intelligence and algorithms includes protections for people with disabilities.

Children and Family Advocacy - DREDF provides training and technical assistance on the rights of children with disabilities in special education to parents, advocates and professionals. DREDF education advocates provide technical assistance and support to families in 30 counties in Northern California.