With the rise in Senior population, Independent Living facilities have risen in popularity as an option for aging citizens.
[3] The first Independent Living ideologists and organizers were people with extensive disabilities (e.g., Ed Roberts, Hale Zukas, Judith Heumann, Peg Nosek, Beverly Chapman, Lex Frieden) and of course, early friends and collaborators in the 1970s (Julie Ann Racino) and university and government supporters throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
In high school, Roberts was stopped from graduating because he could not complete his gym requirement, as he was paralyzed and spent most of his time in an iron lung.
As others with disabilities started attending the school and living in the infirmary, an activist group called the Rolling Quads was formed.
[6] These centers flourished across the United States and are a huge part of why Ed Roberts was so instrumental in the start of the Independent Living Movement.
[10] Institutionalised care created a paternalistic and segregated system that medicalised the identities of disabled and dependent persons and actively participated in the abuse of their human rights.
[10] The goals of the independent living movement - choice, control, and quality care - were essentially co-opted by neoliberal ideals of cost-control, self-sufficiency, and minimalist state intervention.
[12] Deinstitutionalisation occurred alongside health and welfare service restructuring in a concerted effort to reduce public spending and improve the efficiency of formal care.
Home care is not covered under the 1984 Canada Health Act, and the provincial and federal governments tend to squabble over funding.
[15][14] All levels of government are pressured to limit spending while maintaining equitable and accessible services for disabled and dependent persons.
Independent living remains difficult for many people and institutionalisation is offered as an ongoing practical solution to meeting care needs.
According to the IL Movement, with peer support, everyone – including persons with extensive developmental disabilities – can learn to take more initiative and control over their lives.
Typically, Centers work with local and regional governments to improve infrastructure, raise awareness about disability issues and lobby for legislation that promotes equal opportunities and prohibits discrimination.