Approved by the NCIL membership June, 2009

WHEREAS, NCIL believes it is the commitment of the Independent Living Movement to support and advocate for accessible and affordable housing for all people with disabilities throughout the United States.

WHEREAS, all people with disabilities need housing that will preserve health and vitality and preclude exposures that may further compromise wellbeing.  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2008

WHEREAS, NCIL believes it is the commitment of the Independent Living movement to advocate for the human and civil rights of all people with disabilities throughout the United States.

WHEREAS, to secure the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people with disabilities into society, it is necessary to defend their right to an integrated lifestyle.  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, in order to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities into society, it is necessary to protect the fundamental right of people with disabilities to reproduce and to raise their children; and

WHEREAS, NCIL believes it is not a person’s disability that inhibits a person’s capacity to provide a stable and loving home for children, rather it is a lack of disability related supports for a parent with a disability that can result in an unstable home environment; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, cases have arisen recently in which a health care provider has sought to withhold life sustaining medical treatment despite the expressed objection of the individual or their authorized representative; and

WHEREAS, most states have health care decisions laws which include “futility” provisions permitting physicians to refuse to follow an advance directive or individual decision in favor of treatment; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, the Washington state case of Ashley X, the parents of a severely disabled child decided to limit her growth through the use of estrogen therapy, in conjunction with a hysterectomy and breast bud removal, in order to keep her small and sexually immature; and

WHEREAS, the child in question is unable to communicate her preferences on her own behalf due to her disability; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, historically people with disabilities have been treated as less than human by many segments of our society, including the medical community; and

WHEREAS, an example of this belief, is the use of people with disabilities in lethal and inhumane experiments by doctors in Nazi Germany, who murdered and forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousand people with disabilities during WWII; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, historically, persons with disabilities have been marginalized, stigmatized, and deprived of opportunities and freedoms afforded to individuals without disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus a landmark treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on December 13 2006, to promote and protect the rights of the world’s 650 million Disabled people; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership May, 2006

WHEREAS, the prevalence of violence/abuse of people with disabilities exceeds that of people without disabilities in our society; and

WHEREAS, recent years have seen an increase in federal monies for training and technical assistance to increase victim service provider’s capacity to serve women with disabilities and Deaf women; and

WHEREAS, numerous highly publicized cases of violence/abuse of persons with disabilities indicates that these efforts have been inadequate in changing the response of victim service agencies; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership May, 2006

WHEREAS, There has been a history of bias to exclude or limit the participation of individuals with disabilities in American society;

WHEREAS, This bias continues to permeate American society in the form of limited seating options, limited features or accessible areas, and an overwhelming tendency for providing separate entrances for individuals with disabilities;

WHEREAS, Such limitations and restrictions constitute the provision of separate, segregated – not equal – access to society;  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2005

WHEREAS, there are over 56 million Americans who experience disability,

WHEREAS Americans with disabilities are often unaware that they could represent a powerful voting group in every local, state, and national election.

WHEREAS, the time line for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) stating that accessible voting machines are to be at every polling site is in January 2006.  [Read more…]