Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
DREDF is one of the oldest cross-disability legal advocacy organisations in the US, based in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1979, DREDF played a key role in drafting the ADA and continues to litigate, advocate, and provide legal training to advance the rights of people with disabilities.
About the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
DREDF (pronounced "dread-eff") was founded in 1979 in Berkeley, California — the same city that had produced the independent living movement and a generation of disability rights activists. Co-founded by disability rights attorney Arlene Mayerson and people with disabilities, DREDF set out to be both an educational and a legal organisation, grounding legal strategy in the lived experience of disability.
DREDF is led by a staff and board that includes both people with disabilities and allies. It has historically operated with significant disability leadership, though it is classified as mixed given its legal staff composition over time.
What they do
DREDF engages in federal and state legislative advocacy, impact litigation, and legal training. DREDF attorneys were central to drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act — Arlene Mayerson has described the process of translating the disability rights movement's demands into legal text, and DREDF's influence on the ADA's employment and public accommodations provisions is well documented.
Legal training: DREDF's training programme educates disability rights attorneys, advocates, and people with disabilities about their legal rights and how to enforce them. This multiplier effect extends DREDF's impact beyond direct litigation.
Healthcare discrimination: DREDF has been a leader in addressing healthcare discrimination against people with disabilities, including during the COVID-19 pandemic when Crisis Standards of Care policies threatened to deprioritise people with disabilities in triage decisions.
Key programs and resources
- National training on disability rights law
- Healthcare rights and disability discrimination work
- Policy advocacy on ADA enforcement, IDEA, and federal disability rights
- Legal resources and publications on disability civil rights
Who they serve
People with all disabilities, with a particular focus on systemic barriers and legal rights enforcement. DREDF's work benefits the entire disability community through its policy advocacy and legal precedents.
Why it matters
DREDF's role in shaping the ADA makes it a historically important organisation. Its ongoing work on healthcare discrimination, legal training, and federal policy advocacy ensures that the ADA and other disability rights laws are interpreted and enforced in ways that reflect the lived realities of people with disabilities.