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What are Centers for Independent Living?
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The Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council (Ohio SILC) stands in solidarity with our communities across Ohio that are experiencing inequity and injustice.

Every year in Washington DC members of Ohio’s disability community have marched with others from across the country to raise awareness of the issues that impact the disability community across the nation. This march is led by a banner quoting Martin Luther King Jr. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

We stand with those speaking out against systemic discrimination, your voices are being heard. As an organization, we always look to support systemic advocacy that will lead to greater equality and inclusion. We know within every community, there are individuals with disabilities that are impacted. People of all backgrounds and ability deserve equality, and right now our communities of color are using their voices to bring about change for a stronger future.

Ohio Regional Youth Leadership Forums.  Athens Canton Cleveland Columbus Dayton Toledo.

Are You a High School Junior or Senior with a Disability Interested in Self-Advocacy & Leadership Development?

Ohio Regional Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) is a week-long career leadership training program, held during the summer, for 11th and 12th grade high school students with disabilities.  Participation in YLF can prepare you to become one of Ohio’s future leaders by improving your leadership, citizenship, and social skills.

What is the Independent Living Philosophy?

The Independent Living philosophy postulates that people with disabilities are the best experts on their needs. Since we are the best experts on our needs, we need to show the solutions we want, be in charge of our lives, and think and speak for ourselves.  Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves and do not need anybody or that we want to live in isolation. Independent Living means that we demand the same choices and control in our every-day lives as everyone else.

To this end we must support and learn from each other, organize ourselves and work for political changes that lead to the legal protection of our human and civil rights and therefore they must take the initiative in designing and promoting better solutions. People with disabilities should have the same civil rights, options, and control over choices in their own lives as do people without disabilities.

The Independent Living philosophy demands the removal of infrastructural, institutional, and attitudinal barriers and the adoption of the Universal Design principle. Depending on the individual’s disability, support services such as assistive technology, income supplements or personal assistance are necessary to achieve equal opportunities.

 “Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves, do not need anybody or like to live in isolation. Independent Living means that we demand the same choices and control in our every-day lives that our non-disabled brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends take for granted. We want to grow up in our families, go to the neighborhood school, use the same bus as our neighbors, work in jobs that are in line with our education and interests, and raise families of our own. We are profoundly ordinary people sharing the same need to feel included, recognized and loved.”   ~ Dr. Adolf Ratzka

ILRU logoLearn more about independent living, home and community-based services, and the Americans with Disabilities Act on the ILRU website.

The ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization) program is a national center for information, training, research, and technical assistance in independent living. Its goal is to expand the body of knowledge in independent living and to improve utilization of results of research programs and demonstration projects in this field. It is a program of TIRR Memorial Hermann, a nationally recognized medical rehabilitation facility for persons with disabilities.

Since ILRU was established in 1977, it has developed a variety of strategies for collecting, synthesizing, and disseminating information related to the field of independent living. ILRU staff–a majority of whom are people with disabilities–serve independent living centers, statewide independent living councils, state and federal rehabilitation agencies, consumer organizations, educational institutions, medical facilities, and other organizations involved in the field, both nationally and internationally.