MDRI''s Programs bring attention to human rights violations against people with disabilities in the Americas, support the development of disability rights advocacy in the region, and engage in policy advocacy on a regional level that includes the rights of people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.

Through the Americas Programs, MDRI collaborates with local organizations to:

expose abuses against people with disabilities;
make recommendations for mental health reform;
help craft mental health legislation;
help train and support new organizations run by people with disabilities and their families;
work with established, mainstream human rights organizations to promote the inclusion of disability rights into their core advocacy agendas;
work through the inter-American human rights system of the Organization of American States to bring about legal recognition and enforcement of the rights of people with disabilities.