National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, 2026

SCOPE AND PURPOSE: NCD’s 2026 progress report evaluates major developments in disability policy across key sectors including healthcare, transportation, education, employment, and technology, while laying out recommendations to address ongoing challenges to the rights of individuals with disabilities. This report points to historic gains in employment and strategic shifts in health research but also cautions policymakers about the detrimental impact of regulatory delays, ongoing transportation barriers, and legal reinterpretations that threaten to erode protections that Congress intended when it enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In this report, NCD also examines its prior findings and makes current recommendations to the President, Congress, and federal agencies based on disability policy developments highlighted in this year’s progress report.