LIVE UPDATES

July 23, 2026

Conference Evaluation

Conference evaluation surveys are now available. Please take a few minutes to let us know your opinions. The feedback of our attendees is critical to our ongoing efforts to bring our members an exceptional conference experience. We appreciate your participation and feedback.

July 22, 2026

Celebration

Visual Description of Music Video:

Justina enters a high school and looks to groups of other students mingling in the hallway. They notice her but then ignore her. Next, in a classroom, students get up from their desks and move away from her to the edge of the room. She goes to various groups, which each turn away from her, making it known she is not welcome to join.

Next scene, she is reading alone in a library. After that, she struggles to find a group to sit with at lunch. Then another student hangs a flyer for a talent show. Students rush past her, causing her to drop her books. As she stands back up, she sees the flyer and takes it.

Then she goes home and begins writing in a journal. Several quick scenes of her writing in class, the library, cafeteria, etc. follow. She sketches a crown in the journal. She walks back into the school confidently and signs up for the talent show. The other students that signed up point at her and she smiles.

The talent show starts. Other students perform. Justina walks onto the stage in a dramatic lavender ball gown. At that point, the visuals and audio begin matching – she is singing the song on stage that is featured in the video. At the end, she gets a standing ovation and is handed a bouquet by another student. The student places a tiara on her head and she smiles and waves to the audience.

July 21, 2026

March & Rally Photos

If you have photos and video that you don’t have time to process right now, send them to eleanor@ncil.org and let us know if you’d like credit.

Advocacy Panel: Bring Your Name Badge

Please bring your name badges to the Advocacy Panel. We will be checking them on entry. If you forget your badge, you can get a new one from registration.

NCIL Hill Visits: Essential Talking Points

1. Introduce everyone.
2. Share what Independent Living is and why it’s important.
3. Ask if the Member of Congress will commit to funding for Independent Living (yes or no, why or why not)
4. Explain that Medicaid only makes spending on institutions mandatory, but not home and community-based services. Share your story about why access to home and community-based services is important.
5. Ask if the Member of Congress is willing to commit to ensure access to home and community-based services, and to end the institutional bias through Congressional action (yes or no, why or why not).
6. Address other issues of concern to you.
7. Thank them for their time and collect their business cards.
8. REPORT THE RESULTS of the meeting via the Hill Report Form: ncil.org/report

March Status: ON

NCIL is currently planning on proceeding with the March & Rally today. Please note that we are actively monitoring the weather. Any changes will be broadcast on the “Live updates” section of the NCIL website.

Election Results

The following people were elected by the NCIL membership to serve on the Board of Directors.

• Vice President: Amber Smock
• Secretary: John Herring
• Empowerment in Access Committee Chair: Vicki Landers
• Member At-Large: Jenny Stonemeier
• Member At-Large: Kimberly Tissot (new)
• Member At-Large: Michael Evola (new)
• Region 2 Representative: Sofia Pantel
• Region 4 Representative-Edward Mitchell
• Region 6 Representative: Justina Plowden
• Region 8 Representative: Tami Hoar
• Region 10 Representative: Kimberly Meck

July 20, 2026

Conference Documents

Our documents are here! Please stop by the registration table to pick up your Program, Advocate’s Guide to the Hill, and Legislative Priorities Booklet! You’ll need them for today’s Regional Caucuses.

July 19, 2026

Registration

3:15 p.m.: Today’s registration period is on hold until further notice.

Conference Documents

Our conference documents are currently in transit. In the meantime, all conference documents are available at the conference website.

Under documents in the menu, you will find:

• Conference Program
• Legislative Priorities Booklet
• Advocate’s Guide to the Hill

Note: We DO have Braille, Large Print, and USBs ready to go for those who requested them.

On the workshops page, slide decks have been added below workshop descriptions.

Live Updates

Please check this page often to keep up to speed.

Create A Shortcut on Your Phone

We have outlined instructions for how to create a shortcut on your phone to NCIL’s conference website.

Wi-Fi

This year’s conference features Wi-Fi on the floor where our events take place: Independence Level 5B.

• Network: @Hyatt_Meeting
• Password: NCIL2026

Assistive Listening Device (ALD) Procedure

This year’s procedure for ALDs differs from previous years. When you enter a room, pick up an ALD. Drop it off when you exit the room. ALDs do not change channels.