Independent Living Institute

by Concrete Change, 1998

Section 6

MEANS OF ACCESS TO AND INTO THE DWELLING

Objective

6.1 The objective is to make reasonable provision within the boundary or the plot of the dwelling or a disabled person to approach and gain access into the dwelling from the point of alighting from a vehicle which may be within C outside the plot. In most circumstances it should be possible to provide a level or ramped approach.

January 25, 1999

Dear Not Dead Yet Members and Supporters:

The courts of Michigan are preparing to send a worldwide message about the euthanasia of people with disabilities. Will Jack Kevorkian be convicted and imprisoned? Or will he be acquitted once more, never to be charged again?

Could it happen? A serial killer of disabled people, out on the streets, free to kill again?

Yes. It’s happened before. Kevorkian has only been prosecuted in connection with the deaths of six of his estimated 130 victims.

by Dr. Angus Clarke, Institute of Medical Genetics,
University of Wales College of Medicine

by Eli (Elizabeth) Clare, 1999

What connections can be made between loggers and drag queens, between environmentalists and paraplegics? Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, a new book by Eli Clare, explores the landscape of disability, class, queerness, and child abuse, telling stories that echo with the sounds of an Oregon logging and fishing town, and with the lively political debates of crip crusaders and transgender warriors.

Stockholm, Sverige, 24 augusti 1998

Inger Claesson Wästberg, Handikappombudsman

Det är en glädje att få öppna den här konferensen som är ett samarbete mellan Independent living Sverige och handikappombudsmannen. Vi har valt ett tema som är centralt för människor med funktionsnedsättningar; hur de mänskliga rättigheterna ska kunna lagfästas och upprätthållas också för människor med funktionsnedsättningar.

© Los Angeles Daily News - 29 April 1999

by Mona Charen

Center for Independent Living
June 1996

We are disabled people who want to live as independently as possible in the community with staff to support us. In spite of all our campaigning efforts directed toward the government and the society in general to make independent living possible for people with disabilities, we are still a long way from our goal. We need more support to reach our goal.

To get support for independent living for disabled people is difficult because our requirements are not understood easily by society in general and the national government and other official sectors are not working earnestly enough towards fulfilling our requirements.

In English

[Spanska slagord från demonstrationen]
[Franska slagord från demonstrationen]

Joe Bollard: Sista veckan i september 2003 samlades människor med funktionshinder från hela Europa i Strasbourg. Avsikten var att marschera till EU-parlamentets byggnad. Demonstrationen var en del av kampanjen för Independent Living för människor med funktionshinder och fick namnet "Strasbourg Freedom Drive", frihetsresan till Strasbourg. Aldrig tidigare hade så många människor med funktionshinder slutit upp för en manifestation utanför EU-parlamentet

''Close your eyes and dial your home phone number,'' says Gregg Vanderheiden, holding out a cardboard mock-up of a typical cellular phone.

His interviewer obliges. But when she opens her eyes, she sees she made a mess of it, punching the phone's program keys instead of digits.

''Try again,'' Vanderheiden says, handing over another cardboard phone.

This one has a raised nib on the 5 key and ridges surrounding the digits, and her fingers trace the pattern smoothly.

''Now, every key has a tactile clue and you can dial with confidence,'' he explains.

by Art Campos
Bee Staff Writer, May 13, 1993, Davis, California

John Hessler's spirit could have been destroyed along with his spinal cord that day in 1957 when he dove into a swimming hole. But the 6-foot-7 inch Hessler wasn't one who wanted to spend the rest of his life in hospitals or sitting in a wheelchair at home.

He went on to help revolutionize the nation's attitudes toward disabled people - first by entering the University of California, Berkeley, and later by helping create the Center for Independent Living, a program now run in 27 cities.