The Work of Centers for Independent Living

CILs are consumer-driven, private, nonprofit organizations
that advocate for people with disabilities and offer
services to people with disabilities as peers.
The Work
of Centers for
Independent Living
disability
awareness
month
BY NORMAN A. SMITH
ype in “disability awareness” on a search engine and one
uncovers a wealth of programs and activities offered by
schools, agencies and consultants to bring about a greater
understanding of living with a disability. Many programs are for
children, while others are aimed at employers or co-workers. Still
other programs cover “disability etiquette and how to interact
with people with disabilities. For Centers for Independent Living
(CILs) in New Jersey, raising awareness for the community of people with disabilities has always been a part of the Independent
Living Movement since the 1970s. CILs are consumer-driven, private, nonprofit organizations that advocate for people with disabilities and offer services to people with disabilities as peers.
The advocacy can be on a systems level, such as advocating for
more accessible affordable housing, or it can trickle down to the
individual level, such as getting a ramp built to make a house
accessible. These are routine issues for CILs in New Jersey. “In
each case, the advocacy raises the awareness of the needs of people with disabilities by its very nature,” said Scott Elliott, executive
director of the Progressive Center for Independent Living that
serves Mercer and Hunterdon Counties.
“A part of advocacy is increasing the public’s understanding of
what we need as people with disabilities,” continued Elliott who
also chairs the NJ Association of Centers for Independent Living
(NJACIL).
T
How CILs Raise Awareness
Carole Tonks agrees and says that most of the programs offered
by the Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) have an element of
36 October 2014 • EP MAGAZINE | eparent.com
disability awareness built in.
“Most of our programs educate people about some aspect of
living with a disability,” said Tonks, the executive director of ACI
which serves Middlesex, Somerset, and Union Counties. “Our
belly-dancing program is mostly recreational and partly wellness,
but when the group performs in public, it raises everyone’s
awareness that people with disabilities have talents, skills, and the
self-confidence to perform in public That may open someone’s
mind to view disability in a different way.”
Other New Jersey CILs have programs primarily aimed at raising awareness. MOCEANS CIL has a program named Disability
Aware Through Education (DATE). As their unique name indicates,
MOCEANS CIL serves Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
“The goal of DATE is to bring disability awareness to schools,
businesses and organizations to help people of all ages interact
positively with children and adults with disabilities, said Joanne
M. Goff, MOCEANS CIL’s executive director. “DATE speakers are
people with a disability who speak on a wide range of topics and
issues. Through DATE we bring disability awareness to over 1,000
students Grades 3 through 5 each year.”
Disability Awareness and Employers
DIAL, Inc., the oldest CIL in New Jersey, does some of its awareness work through Job Fairs reaching out to potential employers.
DIAL serves Essex and Passaic Counties, with a particular focus on
the City of Newark, the state’s largest city.
“Staff participated in two Job Fairs so far in 2014,” said John
Petix, Jr., Executive Director of DIAL. “One was held at Passaic
www.eparent.com/EP MAGAZINE • September 2013 36
County Community College and the other
at William Paterson University. Our staff
prepared, distributed, and briefly
explained employment packets to all vendors. These explained the benefits and tax
incentives for hiring people with disabilities.”
All of the New Jersey Centers have
received Cornell University’s “train-thetrainer” training and certification. This
certification enables the CILs to offer
workshops on various topics such as the
ADA. In fact, Resources for Independent
Living (RIL), serving Burlington, Cape May,
Cumberland, and Salem Counties, answers
questions about the ADA, four days a week
for Cornell University’s National ADA hotline for Federal Region II. This area
includes New Jersey, New York, Puerto
Rico and the Virgin Islands.
“The Cornell piece is probably our most
requested workshop,” said Lisa KillionSmith, Executive Director of RIL. “Also, our
youth programs all have disability awareness piece in
the beginning.”
INDEPENDENT LIFE: (Clockwise from top left) A program member enjoys the annual
MONCEANS CIL festival; The PCIL Annual Softball Tournament played at the Miracle
League Field at Hamilton NJ YMCA; an ADACIL member demonstrates her pride at the
October Disability Pride Parade in Trenton, NJ.
about power wheelchairs, lift-equipped
vehicles, and how to rescue people in
wheelchairs from modified vans without
needlessly destroying expensive equipment.
“Firefighters
are
shocked at the costs of this
equipment and how hard it is
to replace,” said Elliott. “We
think that we are the only CIL
in the nation to do this type of
Find your Center for
The Progressive Center Independent Living:
awareness training.”
has specialized in bringing www.ilru.org/projects/
ACI Center also supports
greater disability awareness cil-net/cil-center-andand coordinates the New
to emergency first respon- association-directory
Jersey Disability Pride Parade.
ders. They have created varThe Parade was actually the
ious curriculums and training courses to brainchild of two ACI consumers who were
bridge the information void between peo- in an ACI youth group at the time. The two
ple with disabilities and first responders. young men attended the National Youth
Their largest program is Adaptive Leadership Network Convention where
Equipment Demonstration, where people they saw a presentation about Chicago’s
with disabilities train first responders Disability Pride Parade. Inspired, the two
“Outside the Box”
Disability Awareness
were determined to bring a similar event to
New Jersey “devoted to celebrating disability as a natural and beautiful part of
human diversity.” The Parade is entering
its fourth year this month.
Centers for Independent Living help
individuals reach their personal best
potential. This is aided as CILs raise awareness of disability in work, emergency preparedness, and recreation.•
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Norman A. Smith has served five years as Chair
of the NJ Statewide Independent Living Council.
He is the co-founder and Associate Executive
Director of Project Freedom Inc., a non-profit
agency that develops and operates affordable
and barrier-free apartments for people with
disabilities. In addition, Smith has written
numerous articles for Able Newspaper, including
articles on emergency preparedness and people
with disabilities.
eparent.com | EP MAGAZINE • October 2014 37