Centers for Independent Living
The success of the first Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, California, founded by Ed Roberts in 1972, was soon followed by Centers in Boston and Houston. There are now more than 350 Centers throughout the United States and Territories.
Centers for Independent Living offer a range of services for persons with disabilities. Under the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1993, Centers are mandated to provide four "independent living living core services" - Information and referral, IL skills training, peer counseling, individual and systems advocacy, and services that facilitate transition from nursing homes and other institutions to the community - and may provide any of the other independent living services that are specified in the Amendments.
CORE SERVICES
Information and referral services: Centers maintain comprehensive information files on accessible housing, transportation, employment opportunities, personal care attendants, interpreters for people with a hearing loss, readers for people who are blind; and many other services.
Independent living skills training: Centers provide or arrange training to assist people with disabilities to acquire and improve skills that will help them to live more independently.
Peer counseling (including cross-disability peer counseling): Centers offer services in which a person with a disability can work and share first hand experiences with others who have disabilities and who are living independently in the community.
Individual and systems advocacy: Centers work on an individual basis with people with disabilities to obtain necessary and appropriate services and supports from other agencies in the community. Staff, board members, and volunteers initiate activities that will bring about systems change and result in greater independence for persons with disabilities.
Other Services
Centers may also provide:
- counseling services;
- services related to securing housing or shelter, and adaptive housing services;
- rehabilitation technology;
- mobility training;
- services and training for people with cognitive and sensory disabilities;
- personal assistance services, including attendant training;
- surveys, directories, and other activities to identify appropriate support services;
- consumer information programs on rehabilitation and independent living, especially for minorities, and traditionally unserved and underserved people with disabilities;
- education and training for living and participating in the community;
- supported living; transportation assistance and referral;
- physical rehabilitation;
- therapeutic treatment;
- provision of durable medical equipment;
- individual and group social recreational services;
- training for youth with disabilities that emphasizes self-awareness and esteem;
- services for children;
- services under other government programs designed to increase the independence, productivity, and quality of life for individuals with disabilities;
- preventive services;
- and community awareness programs.
Centers for Independent Living have a majority of people with disabilities on their governing boards. They also hire qualified people with disabilities to fill management and other staff positions.
Legislation Regarding Independent Living
Following are legislative milestones in the movement toward independence for persons with disabilities:
| Year | Legislation |
|---|---|
| 1968 | Architectural Barriers Act: Required most buildings and facilities that were designed, constructed, or altered with federal funds after 1969 to be accessible to people with physical disabilities. |
| 1970 | Urban Mass Transit Act: The 1964 Act was amended to require eligible local jurisdictions to plan and design mass transit facilities and services so that they could be available and useable by people with disabilities or people who are elderly. A grant and loan program was authorized to help state and local public agencies purchase vans or buses to transport people with severe mobility limitations. Three additional programs provided funding for projects that addressed national priorities, including transportation accessibility; and required project applicants to assure that non-peak fares for people with disabilities or people who are elderly did not exceed one-half of the fares for other riders during peak hours. |
| 1970 | The Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities Construction Amendments of 1970 were passed. This legislation gave states broad responsibility for planning and implementing comprehensive services for people with severe disabilities, expanded the definition of developmental disability to include cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, dyslexia, and other neurological conditions; and authorized the creation of a Developmental Disabilities Council in each state to plan and coordinate activities with one third of its members being consumers of services. |
| 1973 | Rehabilitation Act: The 1973 Act was completely rewritten to place stronger emphasis on providing rehabilitation services to people with severe disabilities. "No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States… shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service." |
| 1975 | Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act: Reauthorized all formula grants to University Affiliated Facilities (later University Affiliated Programs) and to state Developmental Disabilities Councils to address federal priority areas and an optional state priority area. It also authorized the establishment of state protection and advocacy systems to protect the rights of people with developmental disabilities. |
| 1975 | Education of All Handicapped Children Act: Part B was expanded to assist state and local education agencies to provide a "free appropriate public education" in the "least restrictive setting" for all eligible children with disabilities. An individualized education program (IEP) must be developed, annual goals and short-term objectives identified, and specific special education and related services described. This is now titled the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). |
| 1978 | Rehabilitation Act Amendments. Title VII authorized grants for the development of comprehensive independent living services for people with severe disabilities. Project grants were awarded to public and private nonprofit rehabilitation agencies to establish and operate centers for independent living. Under the 1978 amendments, centers could provide the following services: counseling and evaluation of individual needs; attendant care, training, and referral; advocacy; independent living skills training; housing and transportation referral assistance; health maintenance; recreational; and job placement. The National Institute of Handicapped Research (later renamed the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research - NIDRR) was created. |
Legislation Regarding Independent Living
Following are legislative milestones in the movement toward independence for persons with disabilities:
| Year | Legislation |
|---|---|
| 1983 | Rehabilitation Act Amendments: The Client Assistance Program was established under Title I as a formula grant program. Grants were intended to assist states to inform and advise people with disabilities and other individuals who are receiving rehabilitation services about how to access available benefits, and ensure protection of individual rights through legal, administrative or other remedies. |
| 1983 | Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act: Ensured that all polling places are accessible. |
| 1986 | Protection and Advocacy for Mentally Ill Individuals: Established a formula grant program for statewide mental health advocacy services. These services could be operated directly by or contracted through the state protection and advocacy system; and are intended to protect and advocate for the rights of people with mental illness, and investigate incidents of abuse and neglect. |
| 1986 | Rehabilitation Act: The 1973 Act was completely rewritten to place stronger emphasis on providing rehabilitation services to people with severe disabilities. Title I authorizes formula grants to state vocational rehabilitation agencies to provide the following services: diagnosis and evaluation; counseling, guidance, referral and placement; vocational and other training; physical and mental restoration services; income maintenance; interpreter and reader services; orientation and mobility services; transportation; technological aids and devices; and rehabilitation engineering services. Vocational rehabilitation agencies were required to develop an "individualized written rehabilitation program" (IWRP) jointly with each individual receiving services. Rehabilitation Act Amendments: Required states to show that policies exist regarding the order in which individuals are selected to receive services ("order of selection" process) and to justify those policies; include in the state plan a plan for youth transition to employment; and reflect how the supported employment program would be implemented in the state. The definition of "severe handicap" was amended to include both functional and categorical criteria, and a definition of "employability" was added. |
| 1988 | Air Carrier Access Act: Amended the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to prohibit discrimination against "any otherwise qualified handicapped individual" in the provision of air transportation. The Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984 also amended the Federal Aviation Act to require the Board to consult with the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board prior to making any revisions in the regulations or procedures related to air carrier access for people with disabilities. |
| 1988 | Civil Rights Restoration Act: Clarified that any organization or corporation receiving federal funds may not discriminate in any of their programs |
| 1988 | Fair Housing Act Amendments: Added language to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in the sale or rental of housing. Under these amendments, discrimination included refusing to allow people with disabilities to make reasonable accommodations, at their own expense, in order to realize the "full enjoyment of the premises;" refusal to make common areas readily accessible to and useable by people with disabilities; refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies and services so that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to use and enjoy the premises. Committee reports contain explicit language about how Congress expected these provisions to be interpreted and enforced. For example, local zoning ordinances could not be used to deny housing for people with mental or developmental disabilities. |
| 1990 | Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): This landmark federal legislation provides a "clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities." The ADA is divided into four main titles: Title I prohibits discriminatory employment practices; Title II prohibits discrimination in public services, including transportation, and applies to all state and local agencies not just federally funded activities; Title III prohibits discrimination in public accommodations and services that are operated by private entities; Title IV requires telephone companies that serve the general public to also provide interstate and intrastate telecommunication relay services for persons who are deaf, hearing or speech impaired, and requires closed captioning of all public service announcements that are produced or funded by a federal agency. |
| 1991 | Civil Rights Act: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended to protect covered workers in employment discrimination cases and allow the award of monetary damages for intentional discriminatory acts based on sex, religion, or disability. |
| 1992 | Rehabilitation Act Amendments: Title I contains a presumption that individuals with disabilities, including individuals with severe disabilities, are "capable of engaging in gainful employment, and the provision of individualized vocational rehabilitation services can improve their ability to be gainfully employed" (Section 100). Title VII establishes standards and assurances for independent living centers and includes a statement of the independent living philosophy: "Consumer control of the center regarding decision-making, service delivery, management, and establishment of the policy and direction of the center; self-help and self-advocacy; development of peer relationships and peer role models; and equal access of individuals with severe disabilities to society and to all services, programs, activities, resources, and facilities, whether public or private and regardless of the funding source" (Section 725). |
| 1996 | Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Section 255), overhauled regulation of the telecommunications industry and recognized the importance of access to telecommunications for people with disabilities in the Information Age. Section 255 requires that telecommunication products and services are accessible to people with disabilities. Covered products include wired and wireless communication devices (telephones, pagers, fax machines); computers with modems; and equipment that carriers use to provide services. |
The Americans with Disabilties Act
In the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act], Congress determined, as apparently did the Executive [branch], that section 504 simply was not working as a means of eradicating discrimination and segregation in this country. Congress found that, even though section 504 had been law for seventeen years, "society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem."
In 1985, the National Council on Disability released a study entitled "Toward Independence." This study highlighted discriminatory programs, practices, and policies that promote and maintain the dependency of people with disabilities on government and society's charity. Congress further studied the status of Americans with disabilities and made the following findings:
Ed Roberts Testifying at Section 504 Hearings
…the more severely retarded people, joining us for the first time in this incredible struggle, is one that leads me to believe that we're going to win this.
And we're not going to stop until Title Four, which I believe is a basic civil rights platform, a platform that guarantees to each person with a disability in this country, that they are equal in the eyes of the law, and that they will have equal access to educational institutions, to hospitals, to the institutions in our society which serve us all.
It seems to me, that as director of the largest department of rehabilitation in this country, we are more than handicapped without these laws – we're crippled.
- Forty-three million Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the population as a whole is growing older;
- Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities;
- Discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;
- Unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;
- Individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion; the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers; overprotective rules and policies; failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices; exclusionary qualification standards and criteria; segregation; and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities; Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally;
- Individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal treatment, and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in our society, based on characteristics that are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from stereotypical assumptions not truly indicative of the individual ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute to, society;
- The Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency; and
- The continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity.
These findings, fostered by years of work by disability activists, supporters, and concerned citizens, referred to as "a hidden army for civil rights" by author Joe Shapiro, led to the writing of the Americans with Disabilities Act – a bill to extend to people with disabilities the same protections against discrimination that were available to people on the basis of race, color, religion, and national origin under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The ADA is the first comprehensive federal legislation in the United States to address the discrimination against an estimated 43 million Americans with disabilities in the areas of employment ,public services , public accommodations, and telecommunications.
Moving beyond Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the ADA applies to providers of services in these areas, including transportation providers, regardless of whether they receive or benefit from federal funding.
The signing of the ADA