Centre for Independent Living

The Centre for Independent Living provides services that support disabled persons living independently in the community or planning to live independently in the near future. To qualify as a centre in the USA and to be able to receive federal grants, centres must fulfil a set of criteria:

1. At least 51% of the board members must be disabled persons
2. Key decision making positions must be occupied by disabled persons
3. At least one staff must be a disabled person
4. Centre for Independent Living must provide the following services:

i) Information provision and referrals (services, housing, personal assistants)
ii) Peer counselling (conducted only by disabled persons)
iii) Independent Living Programmes (independent living skills)
iv) Advocacy (accessibility, equalization of opportunities)

Apart from that, Independent Living Centres are encouraged to provide other services such as accessible transportation. These centres must serve all types disabilities and not limited to only one kind of disability.