National Council on Independent Living

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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]

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