Going to the Yolo Adult Day Health Center in Woodland was the highlight of 74-year-old Esther Darling’s day. She had been going there five days a week for more than a decade and the program was the one thing that kept her from ending up in a nursing home. Little did she know she would be at the center of a legal battle to save her program (Darling v Douglas).

Disability Rights California believes people have the right to express their sexuality, gender, and sexual orientation free from discrimination, harassment, interference, and retaliation whether they live in the community or in institutions.

DRC has been at the forefront of advocating for people with mental health disabilities to refuse psychiatric medication absent an emergency.

Disability Rights California (DRC) has worked for decades to further the personal autonomy rights of all people with disabilities, including the right to equal access to health care and the right to make decisions about one’s own life and body, even when those decisions are not ones others would make.

DRC Public Service Announcement Voting Videos

Fresno, CA—Under a proposed settlement with Fresno County officials, prisoners in the Fresno County Jail will no longer be denied adequate health care.  The agreement, filed today in federal court in Fresno, would settle a class action lawsuit on behalf of all present and future prisoners in the county jail.

Sacramento, January 26, 2015 ‑‑ The California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), Department of Developmental Services (DDS), and Department of Education (CDE), in collaboration with Disability Rights California (DRC), recently took an historic step as one of a handful of states to transform its provision of employment services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Currently, under certain circumstances, employers can pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage based on their productivity.  This practice is most often applied to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who are in “sheltered workshops” where they do not work alongside people without disabilities.