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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]