July 26, 2025, marks the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As the ADA turns 35 this year, here are some key facts you should know.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed in 1990, was a landmark moment in U.S. civil rights history. It made it illegal to deny someone a job, education, or housing just because of a disability. But the ADA didn’t just happen. It was demanded. Activists crawled up the steps of the U.S. Capitol during the Capitol Crawl to fight for equal rights.

Today, the ADA protects people with both visible and invisible disabilities, like PTSD, ADHD, and diabetes. It also covers far more than physical spaces. Think websites, apps, voice recognition, closed captioning, and screen readers. In fact, in 2022 alone, over 3,000 web accessibility lawsuits were filed under the ADA.

From the U.S. to countries like the U.K., Canada, and Australia, the ADA’s influence is global. And yes, even Siri owes a thank you to the ADA.

Equal access isn’t extra. It’s essential.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us last Friday, the 25th, to celebrate with UMBC's Accessibility and Disability Services and Student Disability Services. Your presence and support in recognizing this important milestone meant so much to us. This celebration was a reminder that while we've made great strides since the passage of the ADA, there is still work to do—and we’re grateful to have you with us in that journey.

If you're still interested in exploring more, here are some of the powerful films we screened during the Disability Film Festival. We encourage you to check them out in your spare time:

• All Riders
• Le Frere
• Unseen, 
• The Body is a House of Familiar Rooms 
• The Beautiful Colors of Jeremy Sicile-Kira

NIH Announces a New Policy Requirement to Train Senior/Key Personnel on Other Support Disclosure Requirements

Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-133

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-133.html

Purpose

Background

This Guide Notice announces a new policy requirement that requires NIH recipients to provide training to all faculty and researchers identified as Senior/Key Personnel on the requirement to disclose all research activities and affiliations (active and pending) in Other Support (see Other Support form). The new requirement to train researchers to comply with other support disclosure requirements adds to the current policy (see NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS), Section 2.5.1 "Just-in-Time Procedures") in order to provide a comprehensive plan in the area of disclosure requirements for recipients. This update will be included in the FY2026 version of the NIH GPS as part of NIH’s standard processes.

Effective October 1, 2025,  recipients must implement trainings, in addition to maintaining a written and enforced policy, on requirements for the disclosure of other support to ensure Senior/Key Personnel fully understand their responsibility to disclose all resources made available to the researcher in support of and/or related to all of their research endeavors, regardless of whether or not they have monetary value and regardless of whether they are based at the institution the researcher identifies for the current grant.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications

Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-132

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-132.html

Purpose

NIH is providing guidance to researchers on the appropriate usage of artificial intelligence (AI) to maintain the fairness and originality of NIH’s research application process. NIH is also instituting a new policy limiting the number of applications that NIH will consider per Principal Investigator per calendar year.

Background

NIH has recently observed instances of Principal Investigators submitting large numbers of applications, some of which may have been generated with AI tools. While AI may be a helpful tool in reducing the burden of preparing applications, the rapid submission of large numbers of research applications from a single Principal Investigator may unfairly strain NIH’s application review processes. The percentage of applications from Principal Investigators submitting an average of more than six applications per year is relatively low; however, there is evidence that the use of AI tools has enabled Principal Investigators to submit more than 40 distinct applications in a single application submission round.

NIH will continue to employ the latest technology in detection of AI-generated content to identify AI generated applications, but it is imperative that all NIH research applications are consistent with the NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) Section 2.1.2’s expectation that institutions and affiliated research teams propose original ideas for funding. AI tools may be appropriate to assist in application preparation for limited aspects or in specific circumstances, but researchers should be aware that using AI comes with its own risks. AI use may result in plagiarism, fabricated citations, or other kinds of research misconduct. As a reminder, NIH oversees research misconduct investigations and acts on non-compliance (see GPS Section 4.1.27).

Policy

NIH will not consider applications that are either substantially developed by AI, or contain sections substantially developed by AI, to be original ideas of applicants. If the detection of AI is identified post award, NIH may refer the matter to the Office of Research Integrity to determine whether there is research misconduct while simultaneously taking enforcement actions including but not limited to disallowing costs, withholding future awards, wholly or in part suspending the grant, and possible termination.

NIH will only accept six new, renewal, resubmission, or revision applications from an individual Principal Investigator/Program Director or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year. This policy applies to all activity codes except T activity codes and R13 Conference Grant Applications. Based on recent data, this limit will affect a relatively small number of Principal Investigators while enabling the NIH to maintain consistently high-quality grant application review and appropriately steward taxpayer dollars.

Effective Date

This policy is effective for applications submitted to the September 25, 2025, receipt date and beyond.

 Please refer to the full notice linked above for details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.