Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

Disability Rights UK believes that all disabled people should be able to choose to live independent life-styles with dignity. This does not mean that disabled people necessarily need to live on their own or live without any support. In fact, Independent Living empowers you to have greater choice and control in directing your own life, having the same range of choices as a non-disabled person to make informed decisions about any practical support you require to go about your everyday life. It is living independently without the dependency created by institutions.

For many years disabled people have viewed the term independent living as choice and control over their own lives, and Disability Rights UK endorses this approach. Such approach aims at enabling disabled people to move out from institutions, be equal citizens with rights, live an ordinary life (rather than living in institutions) and positively participating in mainstream society.

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Originally the Disabled People’s Movement considered seven different themes (See A SOCIAL BARRIERS MODEL OF DISABILITY: THEORY INTO PRACTICE The Emergence of the "Seven Needs" Ken Davies – February 1990), which if addressed would achieve independent living options.

Further themes have now been added to these original seven and are often referred to as the “Pillars of Independent Living”, or the “12 basic rights of disabled people” (See Spectrum CIL – The 12 Basic Rights ). These are:

Appropriate and Accessible Information
An adequate income
Appropriate and accessible health and social care provisions
A fully-accessible transport system
Full access to the environment
Adequate provision of technical aids and equipment
Availability of accessible and adapted housing
Adequate provision of personal assistance
Availability of inclusive education and training
Equal opportunities for employment
Availability of independent advocacy and self- advocacy
Availability of peer counselling

[Extract from https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/resources/independent-living - please follow the link for the full text]