Disability Rights International (DRI) and a coalition of women, children and disability rights organizations –the “Colectivo Chuhcan” A.C., EQUIS Justice for Women A.C. (EQUIS), Information Group on Elected Reproduction (GIRE), Transversal, Action on the Rights of People with Disabilities A.C. and the Mexico Children’s Rights Network (REDIM), submitted a report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the Committee (CRPD Committee).

Disability Rights International (DRI) has long been concerned about the human rights of people with disabilities in Armenia. In the 1990’s we trained and supported many impressive disability activists in the country. We worked closely with activists committed to ending the institutionalization of children and people with disabilities in orphanages and other institutions.

Read the full story on Newsweek.

Baja California, Mexico, May 2019 - Disability Rights International (DRI) released the report "At the US Border and Segregated from Society" documenting the improper detention, abuse, and death of children and adults with disabilities detained in institutions in Mexico in the State of Baja California. These findings demonstrate the serious risks faced by any child or person with a disability who might be deported from the United States or turned away at the US border. 

On April 30, 2019, the European Network on Independent Living and Disability Rights International held a webinar on ‘Family and Community Integration of Children under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Implications for Group Homes and Residential Care of New Human Rights Standards and Findings from Research’.

Mexico City - March 19, 2019 - In a historic ruling, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice has determined that the guardianship of people with disabilities is unconstitutional and contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

DRI President, Laurie Ahern, was cited in NPR's recent coverage of the FDA moving to ban devices used to shock students at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Massachusetts. DRI first reported on this practice in the 2010 report, Torture not Treatment. 

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has issued an immediate ban on the shock treatment used on children and adults with disabilities at a school in Massachusetts.   

In November, DRI filed a petition against the United States before the IACHR to demand that the United States impose a federal ban on this practice and end the use of shocks on all residents at the school.

Dear DRI supporter, 

It is hard to believe, but it has been 25 years since Disability Rights International (DRI) was founded! 

In the beginning, we were trying to convince the world that disability rights were human rights, that all people – regardless of a disability – are protected by the same human rights. And due in part to our work over many years – via investigations, exposés, reports, trainings, media coverage and advocacy – the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) was born.