NCD Chairman to Keynote Symposium on Health Equity

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 -- The National Council on Disability issued the following news:

National Council on Disability (NCD) Chairman Neil Romano will be the keynote speaker at Achieving Health Equity through Access for All with Disabilities (AHEAD) Symposium Oct. 2.

The virtual event, hosted by NYU College of Dentistry, will bring together experts in the areas of health care advocacy, access, and funding at the state and federal levels for people with disabilities to discuss improving access to oral health care for people with disabilities.

Following Chairman Romano's keynote, panel discussions will focus on funding and access issues; the family/provider relationship; the impact of COVID-19 on the disabilities community; and the importance of public-private partnerships in advancing access to care.

Details on the symposium and registration for this open to the public event are available at dental.nyu.edu/ahead.

Mr. Romano was appointed to NCD in February 2015 by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He was reappointed for a second term of three years by McConnell, and was designated as Chairman by President Donald J. Trump on Feb. 28, 2018.

First established as an advisory council within the Department of Education in 1978, NCD became an independent federal agency in 1984. In 1986, NCD recommended enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. Since enactment of the ADA in 1990, NCD has continued to play a leading role in crafting disability policy, and advising the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policies, programs, and practices.