Being with almost 900 people at the annual Disability Policy Seminar (DPS) in March 2026 energized me and gives me hope for progress on disability issues. When the disability community continues to be threatened and harmed through cuts to Medicaid, plans to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, and more, I am heartened to be among so many people wanting to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.
The two-day conference began with plenary and breakout sessions to help prepare attendees to educate/lobby Congress on disability policy on the next day. The Arc, the nation’s preeminent intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) organization, plans this annual event, with other disability organizations, including the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). This conference brings together self-advocates, caregivers, disability-focused organizations, and people who work on public policy to Washington, D.C., almost every spring.
I enjoyed renewing and making new connections. It was great to reconnect with some people, whom I had not seen in years; to see people in person for the first time with whom I had been in touch only virtually; and to meet new advocates, expanding my network and making potentially meaningful relationships.
First Day
The opening plenary session, “Centering Self-Advocacy in Policy Change,” highlights the importance of the participation of people with disabilities in public policy advocacy. They bring perspectives and lived experiences that others may not have. I have learned that it is often more compelling for policymakers to hear from constituents with lived experience than from policy experts. Many legislative hearings and briefings feature at least one witness/panelist with direct experience.
In the first session, attendees learned about the effects of current attacks on people with disabilities and received advice about Hill meetings. For example, self-advocate Nicole LeBlanc discussed the possibility of cuts to optional services, such as Home & Community Based Services that allow people with disabilities to live in the community instead of institutions. Self-advocates’ advice included preparing talking points, getting to the point, leaving information, and following up with staffers.
Next was a plenary session called “Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security: What to Know!” Then, attendees chose between “Get Schooled: The Education Update” and “Elevating the Direct Support Workforce.”
Day one continued with two plenary sessions: “Disability Funding: Risks, Realities & Opportunities” and “Powerful Together.” Speakers discussed threats to the funding of the developmental disability network (State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), and Protection and Advocacy Agencies), the effects of many Medicaid cuts on state budgets, the bipartisan nature and history of disability policy, the importance of our collective power, and more.
Day one concluded with State Team Planning, which prepared DPS participants to have successful advocacy meetings during Hill Day.
Second Day
Day two was Hill Day, in which advocates met with Members of Congress and their staff to talk about disability policy issues. I was moved by the empowering rally on the U.S. Capitol grounds. Event emcee Michael Wayne O’Neill, an autistic reporter, said:
We’re here to be heard, to be counted, and to be taken seriously. We’re here because Medicaid matters. We’re here because education matters. We’re here because Social Security matters. We’re here because disability funding matters.
He added that stories “move people” and “bring light to the statistics.”
A bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress spoke: Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). Dingell, Hassan, and Sessions talked about their relatives with disabilities. Senator Hassan, whose son has a disability, said, “Tough things happen, hard things happen, there are setbacks, but we don’t give up.” She believes that progress can occur because disabilities issues are nonpartisan. She said that change begins on Capitol Hill when constituents say the same things to Republicans and Democrats and “insist that politics have no place.” People should be comfortable contacting their Members of Congress with different political views.
Self-advocates spoke about their benefits from services and supports. Nathaniel Lent discussed his inclusive education leading to his bachelor’s degree, full-time work with benefits, and living on his own. Charlotte Woodward expressed appreciation for previous advocacy. She hopes that “others will benefit from our efforts.”
O’Neill said: “When you go into these meetings today, remember this. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to know every policy detail. You don’t have to sound like an expert. Just be honest about what these policies mean in your life in real life.” Those comments encouraged attendees to be confident.
DPS attendees participated in Senate and House meetings. Since I am in a federally-funded Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities Program, I was careful to just educate Hill staffers, not make an “ask.” I attended meetings in the offices of Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (who represents my parents) and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) (who represents me). Like many advocates, I left a one pager about a policy topic I discussed with the staffer. In both meetings, I discussed workplace bullying, which mainly is legal unless it targets a victim’s protected trait. Although people with disabilities are protected from workplace bullying, they have a greater chance of being “attacked and bullied” in workplaces.
Final Thoughts
I recommend that people attend DPS. They would learn about important public policy issues, network with others, and make a difference. Their participation and stories may move the needle, benefiting generations of people with disabilities.
Native Washingtonian Miriam Edelman, MPA, MSSW, is a Washington, D.C.,-based policy professional. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University, with dual majors in political science and urban studies (history concentration). She has a master’s degree in public administration from Cornell University, where she was inducted into Pi Alpha, the national honorary society for public administration, and was awarded the Cornell-wide Distinguished Leadership Award. She also has a master’s of science in social work degree (focusing on policy) from Columbia University. She is a commissioner on the DC Commission on Persons with Disabilities and serves on her religious congregation’s disabilities taskforce. She writes about disabilities (including autism) for magazines, H.R. publications, non-profit organizations, and more. Miriam is a trainee in Georgetown University’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities program, and she is joining a national initiative that attempts to improve disabilities-related curriculum in healthcare and interdisciplinary educational programs. Miriam aims to continue her career in public service. She is especially interested in disabilities, employment, health, District of Columbia autonomy, and civic education.
AUCD Policy Talk 