From the Executive Director by Mary D. Lopez, Ph.D.
“Independence isn’t about going it alone. It’s about making your own decisions.”
When I first heard this statement being made in a television commercial, I thought, “Which Center for Independent Living (CIL) can afford to make a commercial on national TV?!” The advertisement wasn’t for a CIL, of course. It was for an investment banking firm. But one can’t help to think how appropriate the sentiment is in terms of the Independent Living Philosophy.
We get calls here all of the time for any number of different reasons. That’s one of the reasons why CILs exist - to be a resource for people who have questions about disability in any number of arenas. The truth is we are not here to solve people’s problems, but to help them solve their own. That’s what makes us part of what we are - a resource that shares the information we have gathered so people with disabilities do not have to go it alone. Between the consumer and the CIL staff person, we will compile a list of opportunities or goals, but the decisions about which opportunities or goals to choose is made by the person in question - not the CIL’s staff.
Going it alone. When I first received by MS diagnosis, one of my sisters told me that I could go back to the state of Washington to finish my bachelor degree but then, of course, I would have to move back to Albuquerque to let my mother take care of me - there would be “no more of that graduate school nonsense.” What a foreign concept to the Independent Living Philosophy! But when I moved to Illinois, I did not ever think that being in graduate school would mean I would survive independent of anyone’s assistance. Instead, what it meant was that I would always be a part of the decisions made about my life. Different people had keys to my apartment in case I ever needed assistance, but I was the one who decided who would have a key.
Since we do not live in a world that always embraces disability, we might need to look towards others for ideas, for peer support, for help in advocating for ourselves, and maybe even on training on how to do things that take into account our disabilities. That’s what we’re here for - to work with you on those needs. You don’t have to go it alone, but you should always be in charge of the decisions made on your behalf.
from Fall 2006 Newsletter
by Mary D. Lopez, Ph.D.
