Theo Braddy, NCIL Director

The Urgent Political Threats to Disability Rights

In this special NCIL Conference preview episode, we talk with Theo Braddy, Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), about the urgent threats facing disability rights in today’s political climate—and how the independent living movement can respond.

Theo shares his vision for the future of NCIL, what it means to lead with lived experience, and why building cross-movement solidarity is essential in this moment. We also discuss the upcoming NCIL Conference, happening July 21–24, 2025, and what attendees can expect as the organization prepares for its next chapter.

This conversation offers a candid look at national advocacy, emerging challenges, and the leadership needed to keep disability rights moving forward.

• Full Transcript

  Welcome to Disability Rights Now, inside the fight for accessibility, inclusion, and independent living. I'm Matt Shedd.

  In the show, I speak with leaders in the disability rights movement to explore what matters most right now—and what we need to be thinking about to shape a more equitable future.

  Today's episode is part of our NCIL Conference preview. As you may know, the NCIL Conference—the National Council on Independent Living’s annual gathering in Washington, DC—is happening this year from July 21st through the 24th. In this special series, I’m speaking with some of the keynote speakers and organizers who are helping shape this year’s event.

  Our guest today is Theo Braddy, Executive Director of NCIL. We talk about the urgent threats facing the disability community under the current administration, including proposed Medicaid cuts, new work requirements, and the attempted dismantling of the Administration for Community Living (ACL).

  This podcast is produced by DisabilityRightsPodcasts.org, a service that helps Centers for Independent Living, Statewide Independent Living Councils, and other disability advocacy organizations launch strategic, story-driven podcasts. If you'd like to amplify your mission with a podcast, reach out to me, Matt Shedd, on LinkedIn or visit DisabilityRightsPodcasts.org.

  Alright, here’s Theo.

  Matt: Just to get started, could you introduce yourself and describe your position?

  Theo Braddy: I am the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living, which is the longest-lasting disability-led organization in the United States. Our membership consists of Centers for Independent Living, Statewide Independent Living Councils, and a host of individuals with different disabilities as well as some ally organizations. That’s our membership. That’s who we represent and who we serve.

  Matt: Great. That gives some great context. And can you give us an idea—since the conference is happening at a really urgent time for disability rights—what are some of the big policy priorities that NCIL is going to bring to the Hill this summer?

  Theo Braddy: Each year, we put on an annual Independent Living Conference. This year, we are doing the same. Its theme is leveling up—working together. That’s a big thing that we’re seeing: we need people right now, more than ever before, to work together collectively to fight back against many of the threats coming from the administration.

  Obviously, there’s other stuff we were working on prior to this new administration, but everything has shifted since the new administration came into place. There have been specific things that have directly affected our membership and people with disabilities, which has forced us to reorganize and reshift our priorities to really focus on fighting back.
  
  One of those threats is the attempt to shut down the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and revamp it altogether. Now, they’re trying to say that’s not going to happen. But initially, there was a major revamping of a department that people with disabilities and older adults rely heavily on for coordinated services.

  Even now, as they say they’re not going to revamp many of the services, they’re still shifting and carrying all those programs and services over to the Administration for Children and Families, which presents an issue of its own. We’ve worked hard with the ACL since 2012 when it started. We’ve developed an understanding and a relationship with that department. We feel that its staff understand independent living philosophy—how we are supposed to be empowered, not institutionalized—and the importance of community living for older adults, versus institutionalization. They also understand the social model versus the medical model. That understanding came with a lot of learning.

  So who’s to say that when it moves over to the Administration for Children and Families, that knowledge will transfer? It’s almost like we have to start over again. The fear is that it’s going to be more paternalistic and not empowering.
  

  There’s a lot going on that we don’t know, and it’s creating a great deal of fear. That’s just one piece.

  Then there’s this executive order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA). It’s trying to move away from basic civil rights to a point where everything has to be done based on their definition—on merit and race. We never operated in that way anyway. Centers for Independent Living have always been about inclusion, empowerment, and diversity—based on the fact that we have a federal mandate and law that requires us to do those things.

  But still, there’s this fear that they’re going to see those words—DEIA—and make decisions based on what they feel is illegal, based on their definition. If that occurs, it could halt funding. It could create delays in all kinds of things. And if there’s a delay in any way, that could put some Centers out of business.

  So we’re faced with this unknown. Based on what they’ve already done, we know they’re looking for those words. Many of those words are even in the name of the Center—Center for Independent Living—if not in the mission statement or elsewhere. So there’s a strong possibility that unknowingly they could create some problems.

  You’d be a fool not to acknowledge and recognize that. We know many Centers are preparing for that by cutting back on spending, and not doing the kinds of things they used to do freely. It’s created some chaos. We are facing that.

  NCIL is fighting back. We’re talking to Senators on both sides of the aisle.
  
  And then, not only that, there are other threats, like Medicaid cuts. Everyone knows that if they do what they want to do with these major cuts, it puts people with disabilities in jeopardy of not being able to get home- and community-based services.

  Then they have the work requirements they’re trying to implement. We know how devastating that could be, because they don’t fully understand the diversity when it comes to disability. In their minds, they have this narrow definition. A lot of people with disabilities still depend on Medicaid.

  Even things like recertification twice a year cause problems for many people with disabilities. It becomes a burden to continually recertify when you have a lifelong disability. It doesn’t make any sense.

  They’re trying to implement a rule that you have to recertify your disability twice a year and go through all that paperwork. You know how difficult that is. We are trying to better educate folks in the administration about how devastating that work requirement could be for people with disabilities on so many levels.

  It doesn’t work. It really doesn’t work. But that’s a big thing for this administration. They tried it last term, and they’re trying it again.

  Those are the kinds of things we’ve had to reshift toward—away from what we used to do, which was trying to increase funding for Centers for Independent Living and Statewide Independent Living Councils. We’re still trying to do that, but that has taken a back burner. Right now, we would be satisfied with just level funding. And thank God we got that, with a small increase in the House version of this big, beautiful bill.

  Which I’m referring to as a big, ugly bill. That’s a whole other story. That’s a whole other podcast.

  Matt: Yeah. But that was a great summary. Something that came to mind—something I’ve been hearing from people—is that there are two elements to this. There’s the concrete limitation of funding and resources, but then there’s also the psychological stress of the uncertainty. We like to talk more about mental health these days—and we should be. What kind of state does that put people in, in terms of mental health? If you want to comment on that.

  Theo Braddy: We are in a situation right now—and not only people with disabilities. Almost everyone feels like you have to have a disability to survive this state we’re in right now. We’re in a period of the unknown.

  What this administration has done—and I give it to them—they’ve been very effective at creating one chaotic thing after another. They put out all these different executive orders, and so they’ve got us running. We try to fight one, and then they put out another, and we’re running over there—just putting out fires.

  I really believe that most of them know that what they’re doing isn’t legal. Obviously, Congress has to come in and authorize a lot of the things they’re trying to do through executive orders. But they don’t care about that. They just want to create chaos and fear. That’s how they operate.

  There’s so much division, so much worry and concern. They’re firing people in federal agencies, closing and revamping departments—places like FEMA, the Department of Education—all of that creates confusion. People don’t know what their next steps will be, whether they’ll have a job, whether they’ll be able to keep their agencies’ doors open.
  
  Yes, that is going to cause a strain on people’s mental health—not knowing whether they’ll be able to pay the bills, both on a personal and an agency level. You don’t know if you’re going to have to cut people off.

  We’re already seeing signs of that. People are cutting back, decreasing pay, letting things go, not implementing certain programs they were planning. They're stuck in limbo. They don’t know if they’re going to be in existence tomorrow, whether they’ll have a job tomorrow, or whether they’ll continue to have supports and services like attendant care, Meals on Wheels, and all these community-based services the administration is trying to eliminate.

  It’s a major strain on one’s well-being.

  We’re facing that. And at NCIL, I can’t say to people, “Everything’s going to be better,” because we don’t know that. We are going to fight—fight until we can’t fight anymore. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking: this administration doesn’t care. They’re going to do what they’re going to do—because they don’t care.

  But that doesn’t stop you from fighting. I will never say, “Don’t fight.” I’m a realist, though. This administration doesn’t care about people with disabilities—people with diverse disabilities. They don’t care about the harm they’re causing. That’s not their priority.

  So we’re going to continue to fight. But at the same time, we have to stay the course. We’ve got to prepare for the worst. We also have to show up for the midterm elections and try to shift things.
  
  I wrote an article about this: the pendulum will swing. And when it does, we need to remember. We need to remember the corporations who said, “We’re not going to do DEI anymore. We’re going to cut back.” And we need to remember the ones who stood up and said, “Yes, DEI is good for this country. We’re going to continue to do it.”

  Because it’s important. We are not a homogeneous world. We are not a homogeneous country. When diversity comes to the table, we do better. When all people have a place at the table and can contribute—and not only contribute but be valued for what they bring—that’s when we thrive.

  There are people who stand up. I was just talking about this yesterday—Kerry Gray, a great young advocate. And you said you're going to be interviewing her. She said, “Say it straight.” You’ve got to make that decision. You unapologetically stand up for DEI. Elevate it. Don’t try to switch things up to make it sound better for an administration that doesn’t care about you.

  We’re seeing it. Agencies and organizations across the country are saying, “We’re not going to use DEI anymore.” They’re trying to pretty it up with words like “belonging” and others that don’t reflect what DEI really means.

  I don’t even like using acronyms anymore. It’s more than just letters. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion—that’s what we stand for, and what we live for. That’s what those words mean.

  That’s what I’m telling people: don’t back down. Elevate. Plant your foot firmly. Don’t be moved. Get to work.
  
  When we do that, these oppressors—better word—these oppressors will not stand forever. Oppressors only become powerful when those who are oppressed allow them to do it. But when you push back, when you say, “No, we’ve learned from history. We’re not going there anymore,” things begin to change.

  It’s the same with Section 504 and the claim that it’s unconstitutional. At first, they said 504 was unconstitutional. Now they’re trying to change and pull back the 504 Final Rules that were recently implemented.

  Those rules required medical providers to ensure their equipment is accessible to patients with disabilities. They required doctors and medical professionals to check their unconscious bias and treat people with disabilities fairly. They addressed a host of other issues.

  The rules even said insurance companies and drug manufacturers can’t use Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) as a metric to determine that people with disabilities have less value than people without disabilities—when it comes to life-sustaining medical treatment.

  We saw that during COVID. If a patient needed life-sustaining equipment, it was directed to go to the person without a disability instead of the person with a disability—because that person was seen as having more value and contributing more to life.

  That’s what the medical profession is trying to do when they use QALYs. They use that metric to determine the worth of people with disabilities compared to people without disabilities.
  
  That’s a standard practice. And not only has NCIL fought against it—the National Council on Disability (NCD), which I’m a council member of, has been fighting for years to get rid of that metric.

  Because it disadvantages people. Society already believes that people with disabilities don’t have value—that we take more than we give. That’s an ableist belief.

  All of that comes into play with the 504 Final Rules, which say: no, you can’t do that anymore.

  Now they’re trying to roll back those rules. The Final Rules were very specific. They said we’ve got to uphold the Olmstead decision, which established that people with disabilities have the right to live in the community rather than in nursing homes.

  They’re trying to turn back the clock. And don’t think people don’t still believe that people with disabilities are better off in institutions. These 17 states that are trying to roll back Section 504—they don’t want to spend the money.

  The sad part is, it actually costs less to keep people in the community than in institutions. So it’s not really about money. It’s about attitudes. It’s about how they think about people with disabilities.

  They don’t want to go through all of that. They don’t want people with disabilities in the community, because they don’t believe we deserve to be in the community.
  
  Matt: Yeah, 100%.

  So this might be one of my last questions. Keely, Keri, and Ly are all speaking as keynote speakers at the conference. That gives me a sense that one of the themes might be looking toward the future, since these are all younger advocates.

  Could you speak to that—what you see coming down the pike in terms of a newer generation of leaders in this area?

  Theo Braddy: Yes, sir. Last year, we focused on Back to the Future—meaning we wanted to go back in time and look at what the future was about. What we did well back then, what we didn’t do so well—we learned from that.

  We don’t want to keep doing the same old thing, making the same mistakes. We want to enhance the things we did well and eliminate the things we didn’t.

  That’s what that whole conference was about. We brought in people like Tony Coelho and others who were instrumental back then.

  But now, we want to focus on what’s next.

  One of the last things I talked about with Judy Heumann before she passed away was: how can we focus on the next generation? How can we meet with them?

  Right now, one of the things we struggle with is communication between the older generation and the younger generation. There’s a void we can’t seem to get past.

  But the truth is: if we work with the younger generation, we function better. And if the younger generation listens to the older generation, they function better, too.
  
  When we can get to that place—where we’re working together—we can do extraordinary things.

  One of the most important things I see with young folks with disabilities right now is: it’s my responsibility to pass the baton. Because this is not a marathon—it’s a relay.

  As we run this relay, which has four legs, can the older generation pass that baton well enough so that the newer generation can finish the race?

  That’s important. Very important.

  Passing the baton means you’re passing wisdom. You’re passing knowledge that we’ve gained over years. That’s what I mean when I say younger folks should listen to the older folks—we’ve been through some things.

  And the younger generation knows things, too. They understand the digital age, how to do things differently. Sometimes we older folks don’t want to listen to that. But we have to.

  We’ve got to pass the baton well, so that the next generation can benefit from what we’ve already done—and finish this race.

  That’s why we’re bringing in people like Keely, Keri Gray, and others—so they can help communicate the importance of what needs to be done.
  
  I’m not like the typical older folk. I want to listen, and I want to pass my knowledge on while I can.

  If we can do that, I think we’ve got a better chance of finishing the race.

  Matt: I love that theme. That’s great. And I love the theme of communication—keeping those lines open.

  It’s funny—Keely mentioned yesterday when I talked to her that there’s this sense of worry, trepidation. Like, “There are all these pillars of the movement out there. What am I bringing? I want to make sure I get the message right.” And you’ve got people who’ve been on the ground for decades.

  But I think what you said is exactly right—that it has to go both ways. It can’t be paternalistic. We need listening in both directions. It has to be community—not top-down.

  Theo Braddy: Even at NCIL, I’m really at the edge. I’m on the other side of the mountain. A lot of my staff are still climbing it. I’m in a position where I want to let them do their thing. Every now and then I’ll nudge them with wisdom—but I want them to lead. I don’t want to lead.

  I had my opportunity. I did my part—in a major way, I hope. And now it’s time for me to step back and let others go.

  Let Keely go. Let Keri go. Let them lead. And every now and then, when I see an opportunity, I’ll say, “Hey, you might benefit from doing it this way.” But otherwise—go for it. Do your thing.
  
  Matt: That’s great. Just to wrap up—do you have any thoughts about other people I should talk to for this series? Maybe folks related to NCIL or otherwise who might be up for doing something like this?

  Theo Braddy: There are a lot of great people out there. That might be a question I can follow up on after this ends. It’s hard to do that on the spot when you know so many.

  Matt: Absolutely. That would be awesome.

  Theo Braddy: I’ll put together a list and email it to you. Feel free to use my name when you reach out.

  Matt: Thank you. I appreciate that. Anything else you want to say before we wrap up?

  Theo Braddy: No—keep on doing what you’re doing. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the conference.

  Matt: Me too.

  Theo Braddy: There’s a lot of stuff going on and planned. This is a time of doubt. We were even concerned about whether or not we were going to have the conference—because, like I said earlier, everybody’s tightening their belts.

  But the challenge is not that. The challenge is—we’ve got to meet this threat head-on. And to do that, we can’t keep doing the same old things and expect different results.

  The same old thing is working in silos. We’ve got to figure out how this administration is affecting a bunch of different organizations with shared missions. When we can come together collectively and show our numbers, our power, and our influence, there’s a better shot at making change.

  We can’t keep doing it individually. ADAPT is doing their thing. The DD community is doing their thing. The Spinal Association is doing theirs. Everyone’s having legislative days instead of planning things together.

  I’m challenging people to come out. They don’t have to attend the full conference, but they can come out on Monday when we have the March and Rally. Show up and show the nation that people with disabilities exist—and that we have the power and the numbers. We’re not going to stand by and let people keep promoting ableist ideas about us.