The National Disabled Legal Professionals Association (NDLPA) is a national association of disabled lawyers, judges, policy experts, legislators, academics, and other legal workers, professionals, and organizers. NDPLA was founded in 2022 to organize and unify disabled legal professionals into a force for change, and to advocate for and empower disabled legal professionals. NDLPA strives to promote professional growth and opportunity for disabled attorneys and legal professionals; provide community service; improve access and inclusion in the profession; and ensure access to justice for all. We create resources, host events, have a mentorship program, share information about professional opportunities, and so much more. Our main goal is to ensure that disabled legal professionals feel supported and do not have to reinvent the wheel. We hope to provide the help we wished we had started out--and for folks to know they are not alone. We want folks to know their rights, and we want employers to understand their obligations and best practices, while recognizing the ADA is the floor, not the ceiling. Most importantly, we want to change the culture of the legal profession, which is extremely disabling in itself.

We incorporated in the District of Columbia on February 16, 2024, and we were recently approved for our 501(c)(3) status.

What our grantee is saying: "We are so honored to receive this generous grant from the Awesome Foundation, which will allow us to kickstart the work we are passionate about -- supporting other disabled legal professionals navigating a largely inaccessible and exclusionary profession. We are excited to finally be able to create an accessible website that houses critical resources and information for disabled legal professionals."