601 Pennsylvania Avenue,NW, Suite 900S, Washington, DC 20004

National Coalition For disability rigHts

NCDR Membership Information
Membership Contact:
Jim Ward, Founder and President
ADA Watch/NCDR
601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 900S
Washington, DC 20004
Email: jimward@ncdr.org
Direct Voice: 202-415-4753

Mission Statement:
The National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR) is a disability-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit, cross-
disability alliance of national, state and local disability and allied organizations.

• We are united to protect and advance the civil and human rights of children and adults with
physical, mental, developmental, cognitive, intellectual and sensory disabilities.

• NCDR pools expertise, resources and influence to build the capacity of nonprofit disability,
civil rights and social justice organizations to further a National Agenda for Disability Rights.
[See Attachment]

• With a particular emphasis on media, preservation of disability social history, and community
organizing, NCDR promotes an understanding – impacting both social consciousness and
public policy – of disability rights as essential civil and human rights.

NCDR fosters communication and resource sharing among its member organizations, serves as
a source of information about disability rights issues, and initiates joint advocacy strategies.
NCDR members also act in their organizational capacities to develop and implement their own
strategies to achieve the goals of the National Agenda for Disability Rights.

Focus/Issue Areas:
In addition to the promotion of the National Agenda for Disability Rights, the NCDR national and
state advisory council has identified key areas of focus for our educational and advocacy efforts:


1. Civil Rights & Discrimination
2. Poverty & Social Justice 202-415-4753
3. Healthcare & Public Policy
4. Community Organizing & Coalition-Building
5. Media & Public Outreach
6. Disability Rights History

Programs:


NCDR programs include the association of statewide cross-disability coalitions, Road To

Freedom (bus, documentary film, book and public information campaign), ADA Watch disability
jimward@ncdr.org

rights news and action network, Campaign for Fair Judges, Disability Rights Concert, and Wired
On Wheels accessibility rating system and database.

Statement on Inclusion:
The disability rights movement has lost much ground since passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act in 1990 and the disability community has grown significantly fractured. NCDR
rejects polarizing – and often self-serving – characterizations about the greater disability
community including supposed dichotomies as disabled/nondisabled, lawyers/lay-advocates,
Inside/Outside the Beltway, physical/mental disabilities, “cure”/rights organizations, and the like.
 NCDR Membership Information
In recognition of the formidable opponents we regularly face and in respect for the unifying values of great
disability rights leaders like Justin Dart, we seek to forge a common agenda among the disparate members of our
constituency. As such, NCDR, while disability majority-governed, is comprised of national, state and local
organizations; legal, non-legal and self- advocacy organizations; youth organizations; rights and cure-based
health organizations; student and educator organizations; parent and family organizations; aging organizations,
as well as associated non-disability led civil rights and social justice organizations.

Membership:
Hundreds of national, state and local coalition partners have previously joined our efforts by simply signing-on
their organization to one or more of our advocacy campaigns. There are no dues are fees. NCDR also recomends
enhancing membership by assigning an organizational representative to the NCDR Advisory Council and by
demonstrating support for our National Agenda for Disability Rights. Associate membership is open to allied
organizations from the civil rights, aging, mental health and other social justice communities. Members of the
NCDR Advisory Council may be elected to the Board of Directors which will consist of no more than ten directors.

Organizational members who join our National Advisory Council are asked to appoint a person within the
organization to participate in the Coalition’s activities and to receive and disseminate Coalition information and
actions. NCDR recognizes the limited resources and significant demands on the time of our coalition partners,
therefore membership requires very little in-person staff time. NCDR prefers that the CEO of an organization be
listed with membership, while the point person may be another staff member. As an organizational member, your
organization will be listed on NCDR materials and will have the option to sign-on or opt-out of coalition policies
and positions. NCDR positions are formalized with a simple majority vote of the Board and Steering Committee
and campaigns will consist of multi-organization sign-on statements comprised of endorsing members.

Association of Statewide Cross-Disability Coalitions:

In 2006, ADA Watch/NCDR was reorganized in response to the call for national representation from a number of
statewide, cross-disability coalitions. NCDR now functions, in part, as the association of statewide cross-disability
coalitions representing state and local disability and disability-allied organizations. NCDR – Statewide Coalition
policies and positions, when distinct from the national, are formalized by a simple majority vote of the State
Coalition Steering Committee. Any policies or positions singlalry reached by the association of Statewide Cross-
Disability Coalitions must be clearly delineated as such.

Governance – National:
At least a majority of our Board of Directors and National Advisory Council, as well as the NCDR Steering
Committee members are people with disabilities. Founded as ADA Watch in 2001, our first Chairman was the late
disability rights icon, Justin Dart.

The NCDR Board of Directors and National Advisory Council are comprised of national disability and allied
organizations and recognized national, state and local disability rights leaders:

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 NCDR Membership Information

NCDR Board of Directors and National Advisory Council

(*) indicates Board Member

Nan Aron John Lancaster

Alliance for Justice National Council on Independent Living

Shereen Arent Ralph Neas

American Diabetes Association People For the American Way

Ron Bassman* David Oaks

NARPA MindFreedom International
Mike Oxford
Robert Bernstein NCIL, ADAPT, TILRC
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Lee Page*
Marca Bristo Paralyzed Veterans of America
Access Living
Brewster Thackeray*
The Honorable Tony Coelho AARP
Former Member of Congress
Debra Robinson
Len Doran* Speaking For Ourselves
The Wexford Group
Marcie Roth*
Curtis Decker* National Spinal Cord Injury Association
National Disability Rights Network
Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities Phil Sparks
Communications Consortium Media Center
Kyle Glozier
National Disabled Student Union Nancy Starnes*
National Organization on Disability
Claudia Gordon
National Black Deaf Advocates Betsy Valnes
National Youth Leadership Network
Wade Henderson
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Jim Ward*
National Coalition for Disability Rights
The Honorable Judith Heumann
Patrisha Wright*
Janine Bertram Kemp* Disability Rights Education and
Cedar Media Defense Fund

Tony Young
NISH

Governance – State and Local:

NCDR is the association of statewide cross-disability coalitions. NCDR supports capacity-building of existing state
coalitions and disseminates best practice methods for the development of new statewide coalitions. Local
organizations are signed-on as dual members of NCDR and their respective state coalition.

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 NCDR Membership Information
NCDR’s State Coalition Steering Committee consists of the leaders of statewide cross-disability coalitions. At
least a majority of the NCDR State Coalition Steering Committee is comprised of people with disabilities.

These state coalitions are represented in seven geographic regions:

NCDR State Membership & Governance Regions

Region 1: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii

Region 2: Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas

Region 3: Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan

Region 4: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee

Region 5: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina North Carolina

Region 6: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Region 7: New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine

NCDR State Coalition Steering Committee

Catherine Blakemore Jim Moench

California Respect-Ability Coalition North Dakota Disabilities Advocacy
Consortium
Dennis Borel
Coalition of Texans with Disabilities Carol Westlake
Tennessee Disability Coalition
Lynn Breedlove
Survival Coalition of Mary Troupe
Wisconsin Disability Coalitions Mississippi Coalition for Citizens
with Disabilities
Sharon Fields
Kentucky Disabilities Coalition Julie Reskin
Colorado Cross Disability Coalition
Stan Kosloski
Connecticut Disability Advocacy Vanessa VanGilder
Collaborative West Virginia Fair Shake Network

Bill Olsen Kathryn Wyeth

Oregon Cross-Disability Coalition Michigan Disability Rights Coalition