Since establishing DRI in 1993, Rosenthal has trained human rights and disability activists and provided assistance to governments and international development organizations worldwide.
His documentation of abuses inflicted upon millions of children and adults with disabilities in more than 25 countries has led nations to end human rights violations and has attracted unprecedented attention from international media and government agencies.
The worldwide attention Rosenthal brought to human rights violations against people with disabilities was instrumental in gaining United Nations support for adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, now ratified by 130 countries.
Rosenthal's dedication to addressing the rights of persons with disabilities occurred in 1992, when, just out of law school, he traveled to Mexico while working for Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights to document abuses against the indigenous population in Chiapas.
While there, he visited the main psychiatric hospital in Mexico City and was so appalled by the physical and treatment conditions there that he committed himself to working for the human rights of people with disabilities around the world, to advocate for the issue before the global community, and to create change.