July 13, 2021
Sacramento, California — On June 12, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom approved a $7.5 million budget request to provide reparations to survivors of state-sponsored forced or involuntary sterilization in California institutions between 1909-1979 and survivors of involuntary sterilizations in women's state prisons after 1979. [...]
June 29, 2021
(Riverside, CA) - On June 17, 2021, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit against Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD), District Superintendent Martinrex Kedziora, Riverside County, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, and several individual school police officers sued over the violent handcuffing of a 12-year-old Black student (C.B.) with disabilities could proceed. The Court denied Defendants' motions to have the case dismissed. [...]
February 4, 2021
Disability Rights California, Barajas & Rivera APC, and Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an injunction and damages against the Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD), District Superintendent Martinrex Kedziora, Riverside County, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco for harm caused to an 11-year-old Black student (C.B.) injured by school police. The initials of the child and his parents have been abbreviated to protect their identities. [...]
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. [...]
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. [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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. [...]
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. [...]