• The Partner Agencies:

• Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP)

• Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT)

• Center for Independent Living (CIL)

• Computer Technologies Program (CTP)

• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)

• Through the Looking Glass (TLG)

• World Institute on Disability (WID)

Founded in 1979 by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, DREDF carries out its civil rights mission through programs in training, education, research, local and national policy monitoring and development advocacy and litigation. All of DREDF's work serves the long term goal of the full integration of people with disabilities into the mainstream of American life. DREDF is headquartered in Berkeley with a government affairs office in Washington, D.C.

DREDF plays a pivotal role in setting national disability policy providing Congress with information on proposed legislation affecting people with disabilities, developing briefing materials, legal memoranda and legal opinions about the impact of proposed legislation. Warding off attempts to weaken disability civil rights protections is an important part of DREDF's agenda. During the past year, DREDFs public policy priorities were to defend critical protections within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and to alleviate the impact of welfare reform on legal immigrants with disabilities.

DREDF offers education, training, and technical assistance to persons with disabilities, parents of children with disabilities, lawyers, service providers and policy makers about disability civil rights laws and policies. Since the passage of the ADA in 1990, DREDF has provided training and technical assistance on this law to over 45,000 people from all 50 states. DREDF represents people with disabilities in precedent setting litigation to ensure nondiscrimination in education, employment, housing, transportation, public accommodations and community life.

Board member Mary Lou Breslin cofounded DREDF and spearheaded the organizational leadership in the enactment of the landmark legislation of the ADA, FHHA and the Civil Rights Restoration Act. Arlene B. Mayerson, the Directing Attorney and CoDirector of the Disability Rights Legal Education Clinic, is one of the nations leading experts in disability rights law. Patrisha Wright, the Director of Government Affairs, coordinated the legal, legislative and grassroots campaigns to enact the ADA and related legislation.

Contact Information
2212 6th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
510-644-2555 FAX: 510-841-8645 TTY: 510-644-2525
Email: info@dredf.org
Website: www.dredf.org