National Council on Independent Living

A NCIL event with Congressman Jared Huffman as a speaker in 2020.

The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) is an American nonprofit organization focused on disability rights advocacy. It is a membership organization of centers for independent living that provide services, advocacy, and referrals to people with disabilities; statewide independent living councils; and other organizations with related missions. NCIL works with the non-partisan VoteRiders[1] organization to spread state-specific information on voter ID requirements.

NCIL was founded in 1982 by Marca Bristo, Charlie Carr, and Max Starkloff.[2] The first independent living program was founded by disability rights activist Ed Roberts as a college student in Berkeley, California.

NCIL hosts an annual conference in Washington, D.C. that includes a rally and march.[3] NCIL's online news publication is The Advocacy Monitor.[4]

NCIL advised on the design of a "low entry ramp" to promote wheelchair-accessible entry for Motor Coach Industries' new buses.[5] In 2019, NCIL launched the Elevate Campaign Training program to train people with disabilities to run for elected office.[6] NCIL also collaborated with a health insurance corporation, Centene, on a project called the Provider Accessibility Initiative to improve health care for people with disabilities by increasing the number of medical care providers whose offices and services meet accessibility standards.[7]

References

  1. ^ VoteRiders Partner Organizations
  2. ^ Smith, Harrison (9 September 2019). "Marca Bristo, leading advocate for people with disabilities, dies at 66". Washington Post.
  3. ^ "StackPath". www.masstransitmag.com. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  4. ^ "Advocacy Monitor". Advocacy Monitor. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  5. ^ Stoff, Rick (2019-10-06). "Accessible travel advances with low-entry motorcoach". Bus & Motorcoach News. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  6. ^ "People With Disabilities Face Challenges Campaigning for Office. This Group Wants to Change That". Time. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  7. ^ Corporation, Centene. "Centene recognized by CMS with Health Equity Award". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2020-06-15.