Dear Friend,
As I look back on this year, I hold two truths at once: the disability community is facing some of the most aggressive rollbacks and attacks we’ve seen in decades—and yet, the courage, clarity, and collective strength of disabled people has never been more undeniable. That tension defines our moment, and it is why I’m reaching out today with both urgency and hope.
More than 60 million disabled people in the U.S. navigate systems that claim to protect us, even as they routinely fail. Every week at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF), we hear from parents terrified their child is losing critical educational supports; from disabled people abruptly cut off from life-sustaining healthcare; from unhoused community members criminalized for surviving in public; and from families who feel they are fighting enormous institutions alone.
This year, those struggles deepened. Federal protections that generations fought for are being dismantled. Agencies charged with enforcing disability and education rights are shrinking. Rules vital to healthcare access, transportation safety, and civil rights are being delayed, rewritten, or abandoned. And, as always, these harms fall hardest on disabled people already facing racism, poverty, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and institutionalization—those whose rights have always been most fragile.
Yet our community moved forward with purpose—raising our voices, demanding justice, and supporting one another. In the face of escalating attacks on Section 504, Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, thousands turned to DREDF for trusted information, advocacy, and a path forward. Families reached out in record numbers for guidance navigating special education, seeking not only answers, but strategy and solidarity. At DREDF, we met this moment with clarity and connection—helping people understand their rights, organize for their defense, and act together rather than stand alone.
We carried that community power into courtrooms, negotiations, and policy battles. Our attorneys secured victories that pushed back against discrimination in concrete, life-changing ways: a settlement protecting Black and brown students from segregation and punitive discipline; accessible-format notices for blind Medi-Cal enrollees; improved communication access in video medical appointments; and ongoing litigation against discriminatory housing practices and the criminalization of homelessness. We helped families demand the inclusive, individualized education their children are entitled to, defended healthcare and transportation access, and kept fighting for reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, marriage equality, and civil rights—issues at the core of disabled people’s dignity and survival. We held the line. We told the truth. And together—with our community—we refused to let the erosion of civil rights go unanswered.
But I must be honest: this work is becoming harder at the exact moment it is most necessary. Political hostility toward civil rights and disability justice organizations is intensifying, and some of DREDF’s longstanding support is at real risk. The need is growing even as resources shrink.
That is why your support means so much right now. And if you are able, I’m asking you to make a gift to DREDF today. When you give, you are not simply supporting an organization—
You are protecting a child’s education.
You are helping a disabled neighbor stay housed.
You are standing up for the right to accessible healthcare.
You are defending decades of hard-won progress.
You are fueling a movement that is bigger, louder, and more united than the forces trying to silence us and declaring—unequivocally—that we will not be erased.
As we prepare for the year ahead, we know the challenges will continue—but so will our resolve. This is a moment that demands not just vigilance, but vision; not just outrage, but action; not just survival, but solidarity.
With your partnership and your gift, DREDF will continue to meet this moment with clarity, courage, and unshakeable commitment. Together, we will protect our rights and drive forward justice and collective liberation—powered by collective action and shared leadership. You can donate online at dredf.org/donate.
Thank you for standing with us, believing in this work, and helping us build a future where disabled people are not merely included, but honored, valued, and free.
With deep gratitude and unrelenting hope,
Michelle Uzeta
Executive Director
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
