DRA is a non-profit legal center whose mission is to ensure dignity, equality, and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities throughout the United States and worldwide.
DRA's national advocacy work includes high-impact class action litigation on behalf of people with all types of disabilities, including mobility, hearing, vision, learning and psychological disabilities. Through negotiation and litigation, DRA has made thousands of facilities throughout the country accessible and has enforced access rights for millions of people with disabilities in many key areas of life, including access to technology, education, employment, transportation and health care. DRA also engages in non-litigation advocacy throughout the country, including research and education projects focused on opening up access to schools, the professions and health care. DRA publishes a periodic statistical report, Disability Watch, that analyzes the many barriers and emerging issues facing people with disabilities. DRA also publishes various "Know Your Rights" handbooks designed to educate and assist people with disabilities in knowing and enforcing their civil rights.
DRA has also established an international program in Hungary that is advocating for disability rights throughout all of Eastern and Central Europe. DRA's Hungary office (DRA-H) was instrumental in enacting the first ever disability rights legislation in Hungary, and also holds periodic leadership training and advocacy programs for Central and Eastern Europeans with disabilities. DRA also sponsors disability leadership exchange programs and works with disability rights groups throughout the world to advance the disability rights movement.
DRA also established a program to bring to world attention the Holocaust committed against people with disabilities under the Nazis. DRA represents a broad coalition of individuals and disability rights organizations throughout the world. DRA continues to research an area largely ignored by historians and to educate others about the facts surrounding the Holocaust and to highlight current discriminatory attitudes that still persist against people with disabilities.