What makes RCIL different from other organizations involved with serving people with disabilities and their families?
There are many organizations created to support and serve people with disabilities - state vocational rehabilitation agencies, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, sheltered workshops, senior centers, home health care agencies, and organizations focused on specific disabilities. Growing out of the disability rights movement, independent living centers were created with the explicit goal of integration and advocacy -- for example, people with disabilities comprise, at minimum, 51% of RCIL's board of directors, thus putting policy and advocacy decisions in the hands of the people those decisions directly impact.
At RCIL, we serve people of all ages, with all types of disabilities. Our approach is holistic, our services are comprehensive and consumer-directed and, when our staff and consumers identify areas of the system that need change, we tackle these through lobbying, legislation, and advocacy. In other words, we're not afraid to make waves in order to provide people with the basic human right to live a rich, self-directed life.
We also deliver employment, housing, transportation, education, and support programs that lead to integrated living situations. For example, unlike some other disability-related agencies, our employment services do not endorse the formation of "sheltered workshops" or enclaves of people with disabilities stuck in a corner making widgets. Rather, we work closely with local employers to promote and develop opportunities for integrated, competitive employment on an individual, self-determined basis.
Please contact us for more information about RCIL or any of our Programs and Services.