Organization
Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago
Access Living is Chicago's Center for Independent Living, largely governed and staffed by people with disabilities, offering peer support, advocacy, independent living skills training, and civil rights enforcement. Founded in 1980, it serves people with any disability across metropolitan Chicago.
About
Founded in 1980, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago is a cross-disability Center for Independent Living (CIL) operating under the Independent Living philosophy that people with disabilities are the best experts on their own needs. The organisation is largely governed and staffed by people with disabilities and is part of the national CIL network.
What They Do
Access Living offers five core independent living services: individual and systemic advocacy, independent living skills training, peer counselling, transition support (youth to adult and institution to community), and information and referrals. It also provides housing assistance, civil-rights legal enforcement, and public education on disability rights throughout the greater Chicago area.
Who They Serve
Adults and youth with any disability — physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or developmental — living in metropolitan Chicago who seek to live independently, avoid institutionalisation, or exercise their civil rights.
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