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Sub-Pages: About SILC-Hawaii | What Does Independent Living Mean? | Choice & Inclusion

About the Statewide Independent Living Council of Hawai’i

The Mission of SILC-Hawaii is:
To promote independent living and the integration of persons with disabilities into the community and to aid individuals in achieving their goals and basic human rights.

What is Independent Living?
Independent Living means controlling and directing your own life, taking risks and being allowed to succeed and fail on your own terms. The Independent Living philosophy advocates for participation in community life and the pursuit of activities of ones own choosing.

The Independent Living Movement: A Brief Background
" The IL movement began in the late 1960’s, promoting a philosophy of consumerism, self-direction, self-help, peer service provision, civil rights, self-advocacy, and improved quality of life for people with disabilities. IL programs were developed to provide services to people with significant disabilities who were not satisfied with traditional medical rehabilitation services. IL programs operate from a philosophy of consumer control and involvement in service delivery, peer counseling, advocacy, and the elimination of environmental, physical and social barriers." (Rehab Brief, Vol. XVI, No. 4, U.S. Department of Education, 1994)

According to leading European disability advocates, "People with disabilities ‘woke up’ in different parts of the world simultaneously at the beginning of the 1970’s and the awakening took on different approaches in different countries." (Kalle Konkkola, "Independent Living & Personal Assistant Services in Finland," in Personal Assistance Services in Europe and North America, RI & WID, 1993)
According to U.S. histories of disability advocacy, in 1948 at the University of Illinois the first program was developed for students with significant disabilities. However, it was not until the late 1960’s at the University of California at Berkeley, students with significant disabilities fought for the right to attend university. When these students realized there were few community options available to them after they finished their education, they founded the first Center for Independent Living, in Berkeley in 1972.

Concept of Core Services
In the U.S. in the 1970’s the concept of core services provided in Independent Living Centers (ILCs) grew to include independent living skills training, information and referral, peer support and individual and systems advocacy. Following a period of rapid growth and experimentation, in 1992 standards were developed requiring that IL centers be non-residential, controlled by and staffed by a majority of people with disabilities and represent a cross-disability population (opcit.. As IL evolves and becomes more complex, it must continually assess and address the actual needs of people with disabilities in the communities which are served or not served by disability organizations and independent living centers all over the world (Acton, 1982).

Sub-Pages: About SILC-Hawaii | What Does Independent Living Mean? | Choice & Inclusion