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Welcome to the USC UCEDD Webinar Series
for Individuals with Disabilities & Parents
funded by grant #90DD0695 from
the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD)
Administration on Community Living
August 25, 2016

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Your Moderator
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Susan Kanegawa
USC UCEDD Family Support Coordinator
skanegawa@chla.usc.edu
www.uscucedd.org
The USC University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Children’s Hospital
Los Angeles (USC UCEDD) is one of 68 UCEDDs funded to promote systemic change,
advocacy, and capacity building in states on behalf of individuals with, or at risk for,
developmental, behavioral and/or special health care needs, and their families.
The USC UCEDD Webinar series is designed to educate the community about current policy
issues which impact the lives of people we serve and their families. Our primary audience is
individuals with special needs and their families. At this time, our webinars are in English only.
We are exploring methods to make this series available in other languages in the future.

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Structure and Logistics
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Take notes Type your questions
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Poll:
Can you hear Susan and Lillibeth?
•4
Let us know in the chat box if we need
to speak louder.

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Lillibeth Navarro, MA
Founder and Executive Director of
Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF) and
Commissioner on the Personal Assistance Services Council
(PASC)
August 25, 2016
Independent Living Centers (ILCs)
for people with disabilities

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About Lillibeth Navarro
Lillibeth Navarro is founder and Executive Director of
Communities Actively Living Independent & Free
(CALIF) and commissioner on the Personal Assistance
Services Council (PASC).
Both organizations serve thousands of people with
disabilities in the Los Angeles area. Lillibeth is also a
State Commissioner on the California Commission on
Disability Access (CCDA). She is herself a person with
significant physical disabilities.
Email: lnavarro@calif-ilc.org
Websites: CALIF www.calif-ilc.org
PASC www.pascla.org

7.
What is an
ILC?
What is
independent
living?
Forward-
thinking ideas
about
disability
How our
contributions
can change
the future
Overview of the Webinar
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What is an ILC and what services
are available?
What is an
ILC?
What is
independent
living?
Forward-
thinking ideas
about
disability
How our
contributions
can change
the future

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What Is an Independent Living Center?
• An Independent Living Center or ILC for short, is a grassroots
organization staffed mostly and ideally by and for people with
disabilities.
• It is both a service organization advocating for the civil and
human rights of people with disabilities, as well as providing
independent living services that foster their maximum and
enhanced functioning and participation in all areas of life.
• Most services are offered at no charge.
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What Is an Independent Living Center?
An ILC should be the best showcase for the mainstreaming of
people with disabilities in society.
The aim of every ILC is
to achieve a society in
which people with disabilities
are valued equally and
participate fully.
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Who ILCs Serve
• ILCs serve people with any disability, including physical,
intellectual, emotional, and developmental disabilities
• Most ILCs serve people over the age of 18
• Some ILCs also have special programs for youth
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Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF)
is one of six ILCs in Los Angeles county, one of 28 in the
state of California, and one of about 500 in the United
States.
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ILC Core Services
All ILCs should provide the following core services:
1. Housing Advocacy
2. Benefits & Individual Advocacy
3. Personal Assistance Services
4. Peer Counseling
5. Information & Referral
6. Systems Change Advocacy
7. Independent Living Skills Training
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CALIF also provides the following additional services.
Some other ILCs offer similar programs.
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An Assistive Technology service at CALIF is
Positive Wheels, a Durable Medical
Equipment (DME) micro-business and loan
and recycling program.
Olmstead Transition Services
CALIF assists people with disabilities to ensure appropriate
access and choice regarding community-based services and
long-term housing and care options.

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Employment Services
CALIF has an employment program through
the Department of Rehabilitation, assisting
consumers with every step of the job
search process, including:
• job preparation
• job interview
• job retention process toward the
attainment of economic independence
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What an ILC is not
An independent living center is not a residential facility.
It is an advocacy center aiming for the equal treatment of
people with disabilities and their full participation in society.
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What is an
ILC?
What is
independent
living?
Forward-
thinking ideas
about
disability
How our
contributions
can change
the future
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What independent living means when
you have a disability

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What is independent living?
• having an awareness and appreciation for your civil and
human rights and laws that protect you from discrimination
• having the freedom to make the major
decisions on how you want to live
your life
o what you want to believe without
hurting others
o where and how you live that
maximizes your functioning
o how you want things done
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• the ability to identify your economic base
o stipends, programs and services that you qualify for
o income that you will have to depend on for your daily
basic needs and more
• having the right to an accessible world, where you are given
the accessible pathways to be able to work, travel, socialize,
participate and create as an equal member of society
• achieving the recognition of your contributions to the
struggle for independence, which also measures society’s
need to acknowledge people with disabilities and their right
to equality.

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What is an
ILC?
What is
independent
living?
Forward-
thinking ideas
about
disability
How our
contributions
can change
the future
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Forward-thinking ideas about
disability and services

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Proactive Thinking About
People with Disabilities
• Separate is never equal. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 excluded
people with disabilities, so we advocated for our own
legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).
It was reauthorized and made stronger in 2008 as the ADAA
(ADA Amendments).
• We are not our disabilities. We are not defined by the
medical model of disability, but by the civil rights model of
disability.
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• Disability is relative.
The ability to do something is
often dependent on
accessibility.
• Ability is enhanced with
Assistive Technology.
• Inclusion and participation is
made possible by legal
compliance with the ADA on all
levels of government, the
business community, and
different local entities.
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• The working world needs transformation of environment,
policy standards, attitudes and ways of doing business.
• There has to be real support for workers, regardless of type
of disability.
• Disability brings with it built-in
expenses for survival. Government
programs need to make
accommodations for these expenses.
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What is an
ILC?
What is
independent
living?
Forward-
thinking ideas
about
disability
How our
contributions
can change
the future
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How contributions from people with
disabilities can change the future

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How Our Contributions Can
Change the Future
Our presence in the world as people with disabilities
already guides the direction of human history
Society has to accept that the dignity of a person does
not take only one form requiring the maximum use of all
body parts and capabilities. There is not only one
standard of seeing, hearing, speaking, functioning.
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This change in acceptance
of diversity compels a
change in the physical
environment.
Communication has
exploded through the use
of computers, the internet,
smartphones, smart TVs.
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Society is opening its eyes to alternative ways of
moving, seeing, hearing, touching & communicating

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Medical/Healthcare Issues
 Changes in health care can profoundly affect the practice of
medicine. HMOs promote more efficient health coordination,
which is good. However, HMOs must be faithful to the original
Hippocratic Oath to heal the patient.
 Therapies that extend lives and improve functioning are being
developed, but these are often expensive, and many people
cannot afford them. We must be vigilant that medicine does
not prevent the poor from access to these innovations.
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 People are often unaware that they can work and still keep
their health care benefits and other supports. So, the future
of employment will focus on Work Incentive
implementation.
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Employment and Access to Economic Opportunities
Most people with disabilities
want to work, can work and
many do work. Yet, there is
much more to be done, given
that our unemployment rate is
still at 80%.

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Employment Gaps Addressed
There will be more proactive initiatives, like the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), to address gaps in
employment. This federal program will require the states to
partner with ILCs to ensure that:
• there are Youth Services
• there are Transition Services for youth entering adulthood
• persons with disabilities are plugged into their local ILCs to
get the services needed to prevent institutionalization and
work toward living independently
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Conclusion
With all these supports for people with disabilities and using
independent living as a tool, the future promises the
transformation of the world, workplace and society, with all
the positive consequences of inclusion and/or having a job.
Within various disability groups, we
advocate for our own needs and work on
our own solutions. When all are coordinated
in unity, it will bring about enlightenment
for humanity—the changing of hearts and
minds and the acceptance of all.
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Resources
To find your local ILC:
http://www.ilru.org/projects/cil-net/cil-center-and-
association-directory
About ILCs:
http://www.ilusa.com/links/ilcenters.htm
National Council on Independent Living’s Legislative and
Advocacy Priorities Guide:
http://www.ncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Policy-
Priorities-July-2016.pdf
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More Resources
Video from CALIF, entitled “Life on a Limb”:
http://califilc.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/14342751-
life-on-a-limb
CALIF video on employment services:
http://califilc.webs.com/employmentservices.htm
Work Incentive Act:
https://www.doleta.gov/grants/sga/03-102sga.cfm
Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA):
https://www.doleta.gov/wioa/Overview.cfm
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Poll:
Do you now have a better understanding
of independent living centers and how
they can help you?

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