Defining Disability

Our Centre, Independent Living Canada and all member Independent Living Centres across Canada are organizations run by and for people with disabilities.  We support individuals with any type of disability including, but not limited to, invisible, mobility, mental health, sensory, intellectual and those who live with multiple disabilities. However, these are only labels and categories.  In the Independent Living Movement we believe that the attitudinal and environmental barriers in society create disabling conditions and are rather the result of living in a society designed by and for non-disabled persons.

We also believe it is up to the individual to self-determine whether they have a disability or not, by identifying for themselves if they experience barriers that prevent their full participation in society.

What is Independent Living (IL) Philosophy?

The Independent Living (IL) philosophy is an alternative approach to the traditional medical/rehabilitation service delivery model. The IL philosophy promotes and encourages an attitude of self direction in consumers so they can negotiate and access the community services and resources they require in order to participate as equal citizens in their community. The IL philosophy recognizes the rights of individuals with disabilities to assume risks and make choices.  Born on California university campuses in the 1970s, the movement spread to Canada in the 1980s, and has since reached around the globe and changed the way people view and respond to disability.

Independent Living is founded on the right of people with disabilities to:

• Live with dignity in their chosen community;
• Participate in all aspects of their life; and
• Control and make decisions about their own lives.

The IL vision and philosophy have been articulated through the Independent Living movement, a network of individuals and community-based resource centres across the country, supported by a national organization, Independent Living Canada.

The IL movement differs from a traditional service providing organizations by emphasizing peer support, self-direction, and community integration by and for people with disabilities themselves. This diagram illustrates the five historical views of people with disabilities in Canadian society. The IL model embraces the notion that rights and responsibilities are shared between citizens and the state, focussing on building a country based on the principles of inclusion, equity, affordability and justice.

Five Historical Views of Rights and Responsibilities

1	Independent Living Rights and responsibilities are shared, learned, supported, and changed in cooperation with the community with common good from the Federal Government and all others interested in building a country based on inclusion, equity, affordability, and justice.		Citizenship	FUTURE
2	Socio/Political People have the right to participate in society Government has the responsibility to make sure laws and programs facilitate that participation		Criticizes medical and economical model to excess Lacks cohesion Conflict Rights can be wiped away Short-term focus to solve long-term problems Nevertheless prepares the way for more cooperative models
3	Rehabilitation People have the right to work Vocational rehabilitation professionals have the responsibility to decide how work can be done and who can do it		Tied to economic policy Inefficient Disenfranchising Dependency Hostility and frustration Jumping through hoops Nevertheless connected the individual with social reality
4	Medical People have the right to medical help The medical profession has the responsibility to decide if you are sick		Passivity Isolation No attention to social needs Sick model Nevertheless evolves other strategies: chronic and palliative care coping that values individuals
5	Charity People have the right to hope for help Those who have been fortunate have the responsibility to give money		Encourages: Isolation Prejudice Hopelessness Helplessness People having no voice Nevertheless individuals and groups supported that would not have flourished otherwise	PAST

Independent Living Centres do not engage in collective advocacy. Instead, the IL movement promotes an end to institutional living for people with disabilities and encourages and supports individuals to integrate into the community.

While the aim of Independent Living is not to make a person normal in a physical or mental sense, the movement emphasizes the value of people with disabilities to having ordinary life experiences by providing community-based, consumer-controlled services, supports, resources and skills training to enable people with disabilities to live an ordinary life in the community.