Disability Rights Advocates

DRA Overview

With offices in California and New York, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is one of the leading nonprofit disability rights legal centers in the nation. Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities nationwide. DRA is run by people with disabilities for people with disabilities.

Cases and Clients

DRA provides free legal representation to people with disabilities whose civil rights have been violated. It represents people with the full spectrum of disabilities including mobility, sensory, cognitive, and psychiatric in complex, system-change class-action cases.

DRA uses litigation, structured negotiations, advocacy, community education, and media to reform systems and practices that discriminate against people with disabilities.

DRA is small but mighty. In the organization’s 20+ year history, DRA has taken on more than 400 cases and won almost all—achieving dramatic improvements for people with disabilities seeking health care, employment, transportation, education, disaster preparedness planning, voting and housing.

Staff

DRA was founded in 1993 by visionary attorneys and disability advocates Larry Paradis and Sid Wolinsky, who continue to guide the organization. DRA's current Co-Directors of Litigation are Mary-Lee Smith and Stuart Seaborn. DRA has thirteen lawyers, many of whom have disabilities. Its lawyers work in multiple practice areas such as education, employment, emergency planning, health care, access to public and private facilities & services, technology, telecommunications, transportation and veterans benefits.

Fellowship Program

DRA has a long-standing commitment to educating the next generation of public interest attorneys. In the organization’s 20 year history, DRA has trained 33 legal fellows—almost all of whom have gone onto careers as public interest attorneys. DRA is establishing a Wolinsky Fellowship Program that will provide on-going, two-year fellowships in honor of DRA’s co-founder Sid Wolinsky.

Finances

DRA’s annual operating budget is roughly $3.7 million. Less than 25% of DRA’s expenses are allocated to administrative costs. DRA relies on a mix of contributed and earned revenue to fuel its high-impact pro-bono legal work. To make a tax-deductible contribution to DRA click here.

Awards

DRA and its attorneys not only have a strong track record of success but have collectively won more than 20 prestigious awards for their work including: California Lawyer of the Year awards, Top Women Litigators in California awards, Super Lawyer awards, Trail Lawyer of the Year awards, and Top 100 California Lawyer awards. Co-founder Sid Wolinsky has received the Loren Miller Legal Services Award for Lifetime Achievement from the State Bar of California and the Clark Siegel President’s Award for Lifetime Outstanding Service to the Community.