WHAT IS INDEPENDENT LIVING? 

The Adaptables Inc. states:

Independent living is about CHOICE, EXPERTISE, and COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION.

CHOICE…

Independent living is having opportunities to make decisions that affect one's life, being able to pursue activities of one's own choosing - limited only in the same ways people not experiencing disabilities are.  It is having the right and opportunity to pursue one’s course of action, having the freedom to fail and to learn from one's failures.

Living on one’s own, being employed in a job fitting one’s capabilities and interests, and having an active social life is not independent living, but the evidence of independent living is action.

EXPERTISE

The Adaptables Inc. promotes the belief that people experiencing disabilities are the experts regarding the ways disability impacts experiences and activities.    This belief is embedded in the organization as people with disabilities set their own goals that direct services and a majority of the board and staff are people with disabilities.

Independent Living does not mean being an “expert” on everything or that one needs to do every life activity on one’s own.  In fact, no one does this.  How many people do you know that complete all of life’s activities on her or his own?  Do you know anyone who does his or her own dental work?

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Independent living means living in one’s own community and being a part of the fabric of that community.  To this end, independent living is not about building “separate but equal systems and services.  It is about using education and advocacy to remove barriers to full community participation. These barriers are both functional and attitudinal. Functional barriers are concrete such as: lack of ramped entrances for people who use wheelchairs, lack of interpreters or captioning for those with hearing impairments, lack of Braille or taped copies of printed material for people who have visual impairments. Attitudinal barriers can be even more limiting to efforts on the part of people with disabilities to live independently, and they result from people's misunderstandings and prejudices about disability. These barriers result in low expectations about what people with disabilities can achieve. Functional or physical barriers are often said to be “more obvious” than attitudinal barriers.  However, The Adaptables Inc. does not believe that this is so.  Prejudice and ignorance are very obvious to those who experience them.