The 12 Requirements to Independent Living

The Seven Needs or Action Steps to Independent Living have been developed by disabled people over a number of years. In recent times the original 7 have been developed into 12 requirements following work carried out by Southampton CIL. They are considered requirements because in order to live independently a person requires access to these 12 aspects of life. Below these requirements are briefly outlined. Although they specifically relate to disabled people, it is also useful to consider what would be the consequences for non-disabled people if they were denied access to any one of the elements below, what would their quality of life be like?

1. Full Access to our environment.

2. A fully accessible Transport system.

3. Technical Aids - Equipment

4. Accessible/adapted Housing

5. Personal Assistance

6. Inclusive Education and Training

7. An adequate Income

8. Equal opportunities for Employment

9. Appropriate and accessible Information

10. Advocacy (towards self-advocacy)

11. Counselling

12. Appropriate and Accessible Health Provision

Independent living and the social model of disability are linked. Developed by disabled people, The Social Model of Disability gives a clear framework for understanding the negative experiences of disabled people. It outlines how society creates unnecessary physical barriers and false attitudes which exclude disabled people, denying their rights to self determining choices to fully participate and contribute to every aspect of the social, economic, political, and cultural life of society.It is not true that independence is about doing everything for yourself, and as some disabled people need support in their everyday life, they cannot be considered as independent. This is a flawed idea. Independence is a social process where people live, work, play and communicate with others in the wider world. No one lives as an island, we all are part of a community. Participating fully in that wider community is at the core of Independent Living. The 12 actions steps of Independent living are based on being able to have choice and control over your own life. Disabled people understood that this means having control over the finance (Direct Payments) that is used to provide the support and services that disabled people use to be independent. If you move through the 12 different areas of Independent Living to explore some of the issues then they create connections between them. Listed below are some links for further information and resources.

BCIL works with the 12 requirements with individual disabled people. Using the Social model of disability BCIL considers disabled people partners, often becoming their advocates and holding their choice as paramount in achieving independent Living.There is no set format because everyone is different but the process begins with a referral document which is often completed with the disabled person. Issues of confidentiality are discussed and we build communication using a variety of different formats whether the partner can access the written word or not.