North Carolina Disability Action Network

The NC Disability Action Network is a statewide, cross-disability project working to involve people with disabilities in civic life.

The purpose of the project is to bring members of the disability community in North Carolina together to claim their power as citizens and take action as a unified force on issues of local, state and national concern. The project seeks to mobilize people with disabilities across the state and to support and/or organize local constituencies around issues of common concern.

Why Do We Need the NC Disability Action Network?

According to the latest U.S. Census figures, there are over 1.8 million people with disabilities in North Carolina. That’s almost 20% of the state’s population!

However, across North Carolina, people with disabilities have expressed frustration at the lack of responsiveness of policy makers at both the local and state level regarding issues of concern to the grassroots disability communities, and at the lack of opportunity to have meaningful input in the policy making process. People with disabilities have expressed the need for an organized approach that will enable a common voice leading to enhanced quality of life for members of the disability communities in our state.

The good news is that many grassroots groups and individual advocates are active in their local communities and regions. However, these groups or individuals are not linked to each other, so they have limited opportunities to share information. Local advocates often are not aware of grassroots initiatives that are happening in their own region, much less the state. There is a need to continue to identify these groups and individuals, provide information to local communities so they can be linked to other local and statewide efforts, and provide supports to local communities so that individual advocates and groups can organize together for change.