Northwestern Illinois Center for Independent Living

Independent Living program- this is an ongoing program and served over 400 people. There are four core services provided through the Independent Living program: 1) advocacy - involves the empowerment of individuals and the education of the community at large. Nicil encourages the adoption of public policies which work on behalf of people with disabilities, recognize and protect their rights and promote their independence and advancement as citizens. 2) peer support - provides the opportunity for persons with disabilities to share experiences, concerns, strategies, and problem solving techniques. Peers are brought together to establish a relationship which allows the more experienced person to provide information and support and serve as a positive role model to the person whose disability is more recent. 3) information on referral - nicil is available to respond to specific disability related questions and to increase the knowledge about disabiiity issues and resources in the community. A comprehensive resource library is maintained and materials can be utilized by the public. 4) Independent Living skills training - training is provided to persons with disabilities enabling them to gain skills that will allow them to live more independently. A wide variety of areas are covered such as, financial management, sexuality, housing, education, self-advocacy, personal assistant management, transportation, and self care. Training is offered to persons with disabilities as they identify areas in which they feel a need for improvement and is provided individually or through group workshops.

Personal assistant program - this is an ongoing program and served over 200 people. A personal assistant is someone who works for a person with a disability, a consumer, with the purpose of empowering that person to live independently in the community. The personal assistant's role is to assist the consumer in completing activities of daily Living based on his or her individual needs. Nicil trains & maintains a list of people who would like to become personal assistants for people with disabilities. Nicil's personal assistant coordinator conducts initial interviews of people interested in the position and hosts an orientation that all personal assistants must attent prior to being placed on nicil's referral list. A computer database is maintained daily and used to generate the referral lists of personal assistants to give to consumers upon request. The personal assistant coordinator also provides further training to personal assistants and offers assistance to consumers with interviewing, hiring, and communicating effectively with his or her personal assistant.

Education/outreach - provide education to individuals with disabilities regarding public health, heath and wellness education and information, counseling, assistance with accessing health care services