We believe that the opportunity to fully participate in the political, economic and social life or our own community is a basic human right. The existence of a disability which inhibits personal function is not, in itself, a reason to deny those rights. Persons with disabilities are regularly excluded from participating within the mainstream of American life and are, in fact, if not intent, discriminated against on all levels of life in our society.

 

Public buildings with steps and no ramps, heavy narrow doors, inaccessible restrooms, intersections without curb cuts, buses with no wheelchair lifts, restaurants, movie theaters, bowling alley, etc. with no access, airlines which won’t allow electric wheelchairs on board, are de facto barriers to participation in the life of the community. Many of our citizens with disabilities cannot even enter a polling place to cast their vote, the most basic of American rights.  Employers who shy away from hiring persons with disabilities and/or refuse to make workplace adaptations to accommodate a worker with a disability area significant reason many people with disabilities subsist on incomes below the poverty level.  In addition, governmental disability benefits are tied directly to maintaining low or no employment status, thus creating a bit disincentive to joining the workforce.  Due to ignorance, fear and misunderstanding, the disability community must deal with the highest level of unemployment (73%) of any minority in the United States.

The Philosophy of Independent Living revolves around a core belief that there is little a person with a disability can’t do; we just have to do things differently.  We believe that the warehousing of individuals in institutional settings is a terrible misuse of human potential and wholly unnecessary!  Our focus is on helping those who have a desire to live independently to do so, whatever it takes. Our purpose is to offer or expose choices or options the consumer may not have thought of.  If skills training is needed to learn basic household tasks, we’ll teach them. If a personal care attendant is needed, we’ll train attendants, refer them and teach the consumer how to be an effective employer.  If advocacy or counseling is needed, we’ll do that too. We believe the consumer himself knows what he wants to do and them we help him do it.  We work to make the consumer take responsibility for his or her own life to stop allowing others or “the system” to make the critical decisions.  We encourage individuals with disabilities to break the cycle of dependence and to become self-directed.

With this as our reason for existence, CALIF seeks to identify and meet those needs of people with a wide variety of disabilities, which are not being addressed by existing community resources. Our programs have evolved in direct response to the expressed consumer needs, and all our services are closely interrelated in maximizing independence.
 

A good example of how and why our programs are available is in the area of personal attendant care.  In many instances, a person with a disability has a basic need for daily assistance with personal care tasks. If these needs can be met, often an independent lifestyle can be maintained.  Without this help, the individual must remain in a dependent environment. Some people are fully capable of finding, training and supervising their own attendants – and that is terrific!  There are others who need some assistance in learning the skills necessary to be an effective employer: interviewing, assertiveness, giving direction, etc.  CALIF can provide this training and support; we will help the consumer gain control of decisions affecting their personal choice of independence.
 

Out of this initial focus on working with consumers to gain the skills to employ attendants came the realization that the next service needed was and organized approach to training personal care attendants.  Many consumers prefer that their attendants to be professionally trained by people who know what it is like to have a disability; people like CALIF’s staff.  We now offer ongoing classes to individuals interested in working as attendants.  Once they pass our class they are referred out to consumers who have requested a personal care attendant – the consumer then makes all decisions about hiring, firing, supervision, etc.

CALIF’s core services like counseling, information and referral, advocacy and life skills training, all evolved in a similar manner.  The more we work with people with disabilities, the more clearly we can see the need for programs focused on consumer control and emphasizing methods to increase independence.  Consumers may access on or all or our programs – whatever they choose.

 

 

 

Updated 3/5/18