NARRTC values and is committed to the tenets of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) across the landscape of NIDILRR-funded projects, to include Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs), Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs), Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRPs), Field Initiated Projects (FIPs), Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training projects (ARRTs), Research Fellowships, etc. These values are expressed, embraced, and instilled in our organizational culture, behaviors, and practices that promote priorities addressing the employment, community participation, and health and function inequities among multiply marginalized persons with disabilities and fostering change in the research workforce that reflects the demographic makeup of our society and disability community. NARRTC formed a DEIA committee as an ad hoc committee in 2020 and this group continues to lead efforts toward meeting the organization’s commitments.
In 2025, NARRTC remains committed to protecting and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in disability and rehabilitation research and development. We will continue to advocate for a grantee workforce that is fully representative of the disability community, one that includes people with lived experience of disability and those from marginalized communities. We will continue to push to protect and increase funding of NIDILRR’s programs, including funding to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and tribal colleges, and its leadership of the Interagency Committee on Disability Research. We are also committed to closing equity gaps in health research, clinical trials, and data collection, which perpetuate disparities in health, employment, and participation of people with disabilities. Finally, we will monitor the leadership and policy decisions of the new administration, and advocate to protect NIDILRR’s core mission to support the full participation of people with disabilities in the community.