Independent Living

Essential Definitions

The term independent living refers to the emancipatory philosophy and practice that empowers disabled people and enables them to exert influence, choice, and control in every aspect of their lives. Independent living is an ideology as well as a social and political movement. Originally inspired by the example of the American civil rights movement and also by the growth of the women's movement, participants in the independent living movement see it as a civil rights movement of disabled people.

The Washington Declaration, which came out of a global summit on independent living held in Washington, D.C., in 1999, defines the principles of independent living as follows:

Within this broad understanding, the concept of independent living has developed a different character in different regions of the world.

History

Some of the ideas inherent in independent living predate the naming of the first center for independent living (CIL). Within the United Kingdom, for example, disabled people with sensory impairments were uniting to press for rights to education and to paid work as early as the nineteenth century. Most people, however, accept that the birth of the modern independent living movement took place in Berkeley, California, in the 1970s. There a group of physically impaired students rebelled against the notion that they should accept living in a nursing home and united to demand the right to an accessible living environment and to paid aides to give them the personal assistance necessary for them to lead normal daily lives.

This group, originally called the Rolling Quads, worked to support other disabled students at Berkeley. The group swiftly extended its services to the community, and the Berkeley Center for Independent Living was born. The concepts that underpinned the Berkeley initiative—of accessible environments, affordable technology (e.g., a wheelchair repair service), personalized daily living support (personal assistance), and peer advice (disabled people supporting and helping each other)—have remained central in the independent living movement. The CIL came into being at an institution with a reputation for social radicalism, in an era of social radicalism. So the other characteristic it embodied was a political dimension, an identification with struggles for social justice.

Spreading the Idea

The CIL concept was exported to Europe in the late 1970s through the work of a few well-traveled disabled activists. The concept was taken up enthusiastically in northern Europe, including the United Kingdom. Activists from these countries and from the United States took the idea to other parts of the world. There is now a global independent living movement.

The movement has developed in various ways from region to region. In most of the developing world, independent living has been associated with economic independence, so the movement has focused on employment opportunities, often linked to providing services to other disabled people. In Zimbabwe, for example, a wheelchair manufacture business provides both work and a service for disabled people as well as generating income for the CIL.

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