Independent Living Institute

by Steven E. Brown
Institute on Disability Culture
2260 Sunrise Point Rd.
Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA 88011

This article is based on a speech written when I served as Training Director for the Research and Training Center on Public Policy in Independent Living at the World Institute on Disability funded by National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation and Research grant #H133B00006-90. The address was delivered to the Region VI Independent Living Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 11, 1991.

by Steven E. Brown, Ph.D.
Institute on Disability Culture
2260 Sunrise Point Rd.
Las Cruces, NM 88011

PDF (124 KB)

Copyright ©1995, Institute on Disability Culture, All Rights Reserved

Contents

"...the folk heroes of disability and chronic disease have not been the millions who came to terms with their problems but those few who were so successful that they passed: the polio victim who broke track records, the one-legged pitcher who played major league baseball, the great composer who was deaf, the famous singer who had a colostomy. They were all so successful that no one knew of their disability, and therein lay their glory." (Zola, MISSING PIECES, 204)

“Independent Living is the emancipatory philosophy and practice which empowers disabled people and enables them to exert influence, choice and control in every aspect of their life.”

Lots of people have made definitions of independent living. They all focus on a few key concepts: choice, control, freedom, equality.

One aim of independent living is to equalise the opportunities available to disabled people. Philip Mason expresses it as an ideal:

av Candy Harrington, 1999

In English

by Candy Harrington, 1999

In English

För dig som på grund av fysisk eller psykisk funktionsnedsättning behöver vård, stöd eller behandling hemma under en period som överstiger tre månader finns två lösningar: antingen kan du få i natura tjänster eller en egen budget för vård och ordna vård/assistans själv.

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If, as a result of a physical or mental disability, you need nursing, care, counselling, support or treatment for longer than three months at home, there are two solutions: help in kind, or the Client Linked Budget.

The discussion opens on the topic of constitutional laws and anti-discrimination legislation for persons with disabilities.