This month, as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I find myself torn between pride and frustration. Pride in how far we’ve come—and frustration that we’re still fighting battles the ADA was supposed to settle decades ago.
I’m a proud member of the ADA generation, a group of people who grew up after the passage of the ADA. I’m now a disabled woman, married to a disabled man, and we’re raising children both with and without disabilities; I’ve witnessed firsthand how the ADA expanded possibilities for my family. I make sure my kids don’t take for granted what I could only dream of at their age: accessible playgrounds, truly inclusive classrooms, and the basic expectation that they belong in their communities. That’s progress worth celebrating.
But I can’t overlook our current reality: while we’re commemorating 35 years of ADA achievements, the federal government is simultaneously proposing to eliminate the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs)—my current employment but more importantly, the very institutions that continue fighting to fulfill the ADA’s unfinished promise.
Let’s be honest about where we are in 2025. Yes, we have ramps and accessible bathrooms. Yes, we have laws protecting our rights. But we also have employment rates for people with disabilities that remain stubbornly low, persistent healthcare disparities, and digital barriers that weren’t even imagined when the ADA was signed. We have families still fighting for appropriate educational services and adults with disabilities still struggling to find meaningful community inclusion.
These aren’t new problems—they’re the same fundamental issues the ADA was designed to address. The difference is that today’s barriers are often more subtle, more complex, and require more sophisticated solutions than what was needed 35 years ago.
This is where UCEDDs shine. While other systems focus on crisis response or direct services, UCEDDs work at the intersection of research and practice to tackle these persistent challenges. They’re not just providing services—they’re figuring out why the ADA’s promise hasn’t been fully realized and developing innovative solutions.
Consider employment, one of the ADA’s core promises. Despite decades of legislation, people with disabilities still face unemployment rates twice that of the general population. UCEDDs across the country are researching why traditional employment supports aren’t working and piloting new approaches. They’re training employers, developing customized employment models, and creating evidence-based practices that actually move the needle on employment outcomes.
In Ohio, our UCEDD developed a first-of-its-kind Accessible Pregnancy Action Plan to support pregnant people with disabilities in identifying and advocating for the accommodations and supports they need during what many parents cite as one of the most monumental times of their lives. This isn’t just another resource—it’s addressing a gap that has existed since the ADA’s passage, where pregnancy and disability intersect in ways that traditional healthcare systems often fail to understand. It’s the kind of innovative, evidence-based solution that emerges when you combine research capacity with deep community knowledge. It’s exactly the type of groundbreaking work we’ll lose if UCEDDs are eliminated.
The tragic irony of eliminating UCEDDs now is that we’re cutting a crucial piece of the infrastructure needed to finally deliver on the ADA’s 35-year-old promises. These Centers don’t just study disability—they actively work alongside advocacy organizations, service providers, and disability communities to eliminate the barriers that persist despite our landmark civil rights legislation. While other organizations are solely focused on direct advocacy, legal challenges, and service delivery, UCEDDs bring the unique capacity to research why barriers persist and develop evidence-based solutions that the entire disability community can use. Additionally, some UCEDDs provide direct services, like dental care, that people with disabilities cannot get elsewhere. UCEDDs occupy a unique space in the disability ecosystem. They’re university-based, which gives them the research capacity to understand complex problems. But they’re also community-connected, which means their solutions are grounded in real-world experience. They train the next generation of professionals who will carry this work forward while also providing immediate technical assistance to communities struggling with implementation.
Most importantly, UCEDDs take the long view that’s often missing from other funding streams. While other programs focus on immediate needs, UCEDDs are building the knowledge base and workforce capacity that will be needed for the next 35 years of disability rights advancement.
The ADA was never meant to be a one-time fix. It was designed to be a living framework that would evolve as our understanding of disability and inclusion deepened. UCEDDs are the engines of that evolution, constantly pushing the boundaries of what full participation really means.
Eliminating UCEDDs won’t save money—it will mean we’ll still be fighting these same battles on the ADA’s 50th anniversary. The question isn’t whether we can afford to fund these Centers. It’s whether we can afford not to.
The author is the Association Director of the University of Cincinnati UCEDD, a disabled woman, and a parent. She has worked in disability policy and research for over a decade and serves on several disability organizations’ boards.
AUCD Policy Talk 