Sara Harrington joined Disability Rights NC in 2023 and leads DRNC’s Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Healthcare Project. Her work focuses on dismantling discriminatory healthcare practices that increase overdose risk by denying people with SUD and people who use drugs access to medically appropriate, non-discriminatory care across North Carolina.
Through the SUD Healthcare Project, Sara integrates education, advocacy, and strategic litigation to enforce healthcare rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. She was part of the DRNC and Legal Action Center team that reached a landmark civil rights settlement in the case of John Doe against Sunnybrook Rehabilitation Center, L.L.C. and Treyburn Rehabilitation Center, L.L.C. which expands access to skilled nursing care for people with SUD.
Sara is a person with an invisible disability whose advocacy stems from growing up in a community that provided integrated opportunities for people of all abilities. Sara developed her passion for defending the rights of others at a young age. With more than 20 years of trauma-informed advocacy experience, Sara brings an empathetic, community-rooted, risk-mitigation lens to her work. She is a lifelong resident of North Carolina and holds degrees from Wake Forest University and Campbell University School of Law.