COVID-19's Broadscale Impact on the Lives of People with Disabilities | NCD 20 05

Opportunity Information: Apply for NCD 20 05

The National Council on Disability (NCD) announced a discretionary funding opportunity (NCD 20 05) to support a single cooperative agreement award for developing NCD's annual progress report focused on COVID-19's broadscale impact on people with disabilities. The full proposal deadline was 5:00 p.m. local time on August 21, 2020, with late applications not accepted. The award ceiling was $150,000, with one expected award, and eligibility was listed as unrestricted (open to any type of entity, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full solicitation). The end product is a policy-facing report intended to inform the White House, Congress, and federal agencies, while also serving as a practical source of information for people with disabilities about federal policy, legislation, and emergency preparedness and response initiatives.

At the center of the project is a research-driven examination of how the pandemic exposed and intensified gaps across systems that people with disabilities rely on to live, work, learn, and receive healthcare on equal terms. NCD frames COVID-19 as a national emergency that revealed weaknesses far beyond earlier disaster lessons (such as hurricanes Katrina and Maria), arguing that the scale and duration of the pandemic tested nearly every part of the health, social services, and civil rights infrastructure. The report is expected to identify challenges, document what worked and what failed, summarize federal agency and congressional actions, assess progress or lack of progress, and ultimately deliver findings and recommendations aimed at protecting civil rights and meeting disability-related needs in current and future pandemics.

The work is organized around seven major focus areas. First is nondiscriminatory access to healthcare, emphasizing concerns that crisis conditions and rationing plans can embed bias that devalues disabled lives. The solicitation highlights the early-pandemic development of state Crisis Standards of Care and the risk that people with certain disabilities could be deprioritized, denied care, or even have life-saving resources reallocated, despite CDC reporting that many people with disabilities were at higher risk for severe outcomes. It also points to enforcement and litigation pathways under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Affordable Care Act, including challenges raised through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and federal courts. Relatedly, it notes that expanded liability protections for providers and facilities, while intended to support clinical decision-making in an emergency, may also reduce accountability if discriminatory practices occur.

Second is group housing, with particular attention to group homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which the notice describes as high-risk environments for viral spread because of close-contact care needs and difficulties implementing distancing. The opportunity calls for documenting heightened infection and mortality risks in these settings, as well as compounding factors such as underlying health conditions, staff movement across clients, shortages of personal protective equipment, and the practice of discharging people from hospitals back into congregate settings where exposure risk may be higher. The report is expected to treat these patterns as both an immediate public health issue and a longer-term policy problem tied to how services and supports are structured.

Third is the direct care workforce, focusing on longstanding fragilities that became acute during COVID-19: low wages, limited benefits, insufficient PPE, and high infection risk among workers providing hands-on support in nursing homes and group homes. The solicitation emphasizes that when workers reduce shifts or leave due to fear of infection or illness, people with disabilities can lose essential daily supports, threatening independent living and health stability. It also flags the possibility that immigration restrictions could reduce the available pool of health aides, further straining service delivery and increasing risks for the disability community.

Fourth is education, concentrating on the sudden shift to remote learning and how it disrupted special education and disability accommodations delivered through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and Section 504 plans. The notice highlights barriers faced by students who require in-person supports and by students needing accessible technology, including blind students, Deaf and hard of hearing students, and students with cognitive disabilities. It also raises concern about the potential weakening of IDEA protections through federal waiver authority discussed during COVID-19 relief efforts, warning that reduced civil rights requirements could effectively pause appropriate services for extended periods if in-person schooling is delayed.

Fifth is employment, where the report is expected to analyze the disproportionate job losses and slower workforce re-entry experienced by people with disabilities during the pandemic recession. The solicitation points to early labor market data showing larger employment declines for disabled workers and notes an additional barrier that emerged during COVID-19: workers with underlying or "invisible" conditions may have feared requesting accommodations (or disclosing a disability for the first time) because of stigma or job security concerns, sometimes leading to job loss or loss of benefits when they could not safely return to in-person work.

Sixth is mental health, with attention to how quarantine, distancing, and service disruptions worsened existing mental health conditions and created new stressors, anxiety, and depression. The opportunity describes social isolation and loneliness as risk factors with serious mental and physical health consequences, including heightened suicide risk, and it specifically notes that adolescents may lose access to school-based mental health supports during closures, increasing the likelihood of worsening symptoms or unmet needs.

Seventh is communications, treated as a cross-cutting requirement that affects education, employment, healthcare, and civic participation during a period when daily life shifted heavily to remote platforms. The solicitation calls for examining whether online learning systems, workplace meeting tools, and telemedicine platforms are accessible to people who are blind, have low vision, are Deaf or hard of hearing, or have cognitive disabilities. The underlying premise is that inaccessible digital tools can function as a new form of exclusion, preventing equal access to schooling, work, and medical care when in-person options are limited or unsafe.

In addition to the seven focus areas, the report must include analysis of the intersection of disability and race and discussion of transportation impacts. These elements reflect NCD's intent to capture compounded inequities and practical barriers that affect access to healthcare, work, services, and community participation during an emergency. The solicitation situates the report within key legal and policy frameworks, specifically referencing the ADA, Section 504, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the 1999 Olmstead decision, signaling that the final deliverable should evaluate not only outcomes but also how well civil rights protections and community-integration principles held up under pandemic pressures. For application instructions and full requirements, NCD directed applicants to the complete solicitation on its website (www.ncd.gov).

• The National Council on Disability in the other (see text field entitled explanation of other category of funding activity for clarification) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "COVID-19's Broadscale Impact on the Lives of People with Disabilities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 92.002.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 24, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 21, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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