Webinar: Independent Living Centers (ILCs) for People with Disabilities

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Welcome to the USC UCEDD Webinar Series for Individuals with Disabilities & Parents

funded by grant #90DD0695 from

the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) Administration on Community Living

August 25, 2016

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Your Moderator

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Susan Kanegawa USC UCEDD Family Support Coordinator [email protected] www.uscucedd.org

The USC University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (USC UCEDD) is one of 68 UCEDDs funded to promote systemic change, advocacy, and capacity building in states on behalf of individuals with, or at risk for, developmental, behavioral and/or special health care needs, and their families. The USC UCEDD Webinar series is designed to educate the community about current policy issues which impact the lives of people we serve and their families. Our primary audience is individuals with special needs and their families. At this time, our webinars are in English only. We are exploring methods to make this series available in other languages in the future.

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Structure and Logistics

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Take notes Type your questions

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Poll: Can you hear Susan and Lillibeth?

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Let us know in the chat box if we need to speak louder.

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Lillibeth Navarro, MA Founder and Executive Director of

Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF) and Commissioner on the Personal Assistance Services Council

(PASC)

August 25, 2016

Independent Living Centers (ILCs) for people with disabilities

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About Lillibeth Navarro Lillibeth Navarro is founder and Executive Director of Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF) and commissioner on the Personal Assistance Services Council (PASC). Both organizations serve thousands of people with disabilities in the Los Angeles area. Lillibeth is also a State Commissioner on the California Commission on Disability Access (CCDA). She is herself a person with significant physical disabilities. Email: [email protected] Websites: CALIF www.calif-ilc.org PASC www.pascla.org

What is an ILC?

What is independent

living?

Forward-thinking ideas

about disability

How our contributions can change the future

Overview of the Webinar

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What is an ILC and what services are available?

What is an ILC?

What is independent

living?

Forward-thinking ideas

about disability

How our contributions can change the future

What Is an Independent Living Center?

• An Independent Living Center or ILC for short, is a grassroots organization staffed mostly and ideally by and for people with disabilities.

• It is both a service organization advocating for the civil and human rights of people with disabilities, as well as providing independent living services that foster their maximum and enhanced functioning and participation in all areas of life.

• Most services are offered at no charge.

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What Is an Independent Living Center?

An ILC should be the best showcase for the mainstreaming of people with disabilities in society.

The aim of every ILC is to achieve a society in which people with disabilities are valued equally and participate fully.

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Who ILCs Serve

• ILCs serve people with any disability, including physical, intellectual, emotional, and developmental disabilities

• Most ILCs serve people over the age of 18

• Some ILCs also have special programs for youth

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Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF) is one of six ILCs in Los Angeles county, one of 28 in the state of California, and one of about 500 in the United States.

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ILC Core Services

All ILCs should provide the following core services:

1. Housing Advocacy

2. Benefits & Individual Advocacy

3. Personal Assistance Services

4. Peer Counseling

5. Information & Referral

6. Systems Change Advocacy

7. Independent Living Skills Training

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CALIF also provides the following additional services. Some other ILCs offer similar programs.

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An Assistive Technology service at CALIF is Positive Wheels, a Durable Medical Equipment (DME) micro-business and loan and recycling program.

Olmstead Transition Services CALIF assists people with disabilities to ensure appropriate access and choice regarding community-based services and long-term housing and care options.

Employment Services

CALIF has an employment program through the Department of Rehabilitation, assisting consumers with every step of the job search process, including: • job preparation • job interview • job retention process toward the

attainment of economic independence

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What an ILC is not An independent living center is not a residential facility.

It is an advocacy center aiming for the equal treatment of people with disabilities and their full participation in society.

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What is an ILC?

What is independent

living?

Forward-thinking ideas

about disability

How our contributions can change the future

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What independent living means when you have a disability

What is independent living?

• having an awareness and appreciation for your civil and human rights and laws that protect you from discrimination

• having the freedom to make the major decisions on how you want to live your life o what you want to believe without

hurting others o where and how you live that

maximizes your functioning o how you want things done

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• the ability to identify your economic base o stipends, programs and services that you qualify for o income that you will have to depend on for your daily

basic needs and more

• having the right to an accessible world, where you are given the accessible pathways to be able to work, travel, socialize, participate and create as an equal member of society

• achieving the recognition of your contributions to the struggle for independence, which also measures society’s need to acknowledge people with disabilities and their right to equality.

What is an ILC?

What is independent

living?

Forward-thinking ideas

about disability

How our contributions can change the future

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Forward-thinking ideas about disability and services

Proactive Thinking About People with Disabilities

• Separate is never equal. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 excluded people with disabilities, so we advocated for our own legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). It was reauthorized and made stronger in 2008 as the ADAA (ADA Amendments).

• We are not our disabilities. We are not defined by the medical model of disability, but by the civil rights model of disability.

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• Disability is relative. The ability to do something is often dependent on accessibility.

• Ability is enhanced with Assistive Technology.

• Inclusion and participation is made possible by legal compliance with the ADA on all levels of government, the business community, and different local entities.

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• The working world needs transformation of environment, policy standards, attitudes and ways of doing business.

• There has to be real support for workers, regardless of type of disability.

• Disability brings with it built-in expenses for survival. Government programs need to make accommodations for these expenses.

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What is an ILC?

What is independent

living?

Forward-thinking ideas

about disability

How our contributions can change the future

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How contributions from people with disabilities can change the future

How Our Contributions Can Change the Future

Our presence in the world as people with disabilities already guides the direction of human history

Society has to accept that the dignity of a person does not take only one form requiring the maximum use of all body parts and capabilities. There is not only one standard of seeing, hearing, speaking, functioning.

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This change in acceptance of diversity compels a change in the physical environment.

Communication has exploded through the use of computers, the internet, smartphones, smart TVs.

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Society is opening its eyes to alternative ways of moving, seeing, hearing, touching & communicating

Medical/Healthcare Issues

Changes in health care can profoundly affect the practice of medicine. HMOs promote more efficient health coordination, which is good. However, HMOs must be faithful to the original Hippocratic Oath to heal the patient.

Therapies that extend lives and improve functioning are being developed, but these are often expensive, and many people cannot afford them. We must be vigilant that medicine does not prevent the poor from access to these innovations.

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People are often unaware that they can work and still keep their health care benefits and other supports. So, the future of employment will focus on Work Incentive implementation.

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Employment and Access to Economic Opportunities

Most people with disabilities want to work, can work and many do work. Yet, there is much more to be done, given that our unemployment rate is still at 80%.

Employment Gaps Addressed

There will be more proactive initiatives, like the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), to address gaps in employment. This federal program will require the states to partner with ILCs to ensure that:

• there are Youth Services

• there are Transition Services for youth entering adulthood

• persons with disabilities are plugged into their local ILCs to get the services needed to prevent institutionalization and work toward living independently

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Conclusion

With all these supports for people with disabilities and using independent living as a tool, the future promises the transformation of the world, workplace and society, with all the positive consequences of inclusion and/or having a job.

Within various disability groups, we advocate for our own needs and work on our own solutions. When all are coordinated in unity, it will bring about enlightenment for humanity—the changing of hearts and minds and the acceptance of all.

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Resources

To find your local ILC: http://www.ilru.org/projects/cil-net/cil-center-and-association-directory

About ILCs: http://www.ilusa.com/links/ilcenters.htm National Council on Independent Living’s Legislative and Advocacy Priorities Guide: http://www.ncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Policy-Priorities-July-2016.pdf

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More Resources

Video from CALIF, entitled “Life on a Limb”: http://califilc.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/14342751-life-on-a-limb

CALIF video on employment services: http://califilc.webs.com/employmentservices.htm

Work Incentive Act: https://www.doleta.gov/grants/sga/03-102sga.cfm

Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA): https://www.doleta.gov/wioa/Overview.cfm

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Poll: Do you now have a better understanding

of independent living centers and how they can help you?

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