This annual report details the activities of the National Council on Disability (NCD) in fiscal year 1997. These activities centered on public policy, civil rights, technology, and international policy. In addition, NCD continued its efforts to eliminate government duplication by organizing interagency coordination meetings to facilitate a comprehensive multiagency approach to disability issues. Specific activities included: (1) a two-day conference in Houston, Texas, to develop consensus proposals to address return-to-work barriers in the Social Security disability benefit programs; (2) regional, one-day field hearings to develop a set of coherent policy solutions that reflect the best research and thinking of the issue of Social Security reform; (3) a congressional briefing on systemic barriers preventing Social Security disability beneficiaries from returning to work; (4) organization of a National Youth Leadership Development Conference; (5) a publication on the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act; (6) the development of recommendations on changes to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; (7) launching of an initiative to monitor several civil rights statues to evaluate their implementation and enforcement; and (8) the publication of important position papers on physician-assisted suicide, and welfare reform and legal immigration. Appendices include a list of NCD publications and a mission statement. (CR)