Founded in 1948, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association is the nation's oldest and largest civilian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Americans living with the results of spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) and their families. This number grows by thirty newly-injured people each day.

At NSCIA, we educate and empower survivors of spinal cord injury and disease to achieve and maintain the highest levels of independence, health and personal fulfillment. We fulfill this mission by providing an innovative Peer Support Network and by raising awareness about spinal cord injury and disease through education. Our education programs are developed to address information and issues important to our constituency, policy makers, the general public, and the media, and including injury prevention, improvements in medical, rehabilitative and supportive services, research and public policy formulation.

• Our Resource Center answers thousands of calls and e-mails and provides information and referral to individuals with new and existing SCI/D, their families and their service providers.
• Our National Peer Support Network is providing peer support referrals to programs across the country, linking people with SCI/D to each other. We were recently funded by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation to begin expanding this important program.
• Our website gets approximately 500,000 "hits" each year! That’s 1,500 visitors per day!
• NSCIA has 21 Chapters and 19 Support groups actively serving their communities.
• We publish and distribute SCI Life™ magazine. SCI Life’s™ editor, Lex Frieden, was recently sworn in by President Bush as chair of the National Council on Disability.
• We are working with our partners to prevent Violently Acquired Spinal Cord Injury.
• We are supporting several legislative initiatives regarding issues affecting people with SCI/D.