Advocacy Efforts:
Independence Place is changing what it means to be disabled in Central Kentucky and beyond through making significant improvement in the delivery of advocacy services. The primary advocacy service process consists of linking individual consumers to one of several agencies that specialize in providing disability rights protection services in some form or other (e.g. Fair Housing, Protection and Advocacy, Human Rights Commission and the Client Assistance Program). Independence Place continually works to improve and strengthen its advocacy activities in several ways. The core service of advocacy is composed of two distinct categories. Individual or personal advocacy, as defined by Federal mandates for a Center for Independent Living (CIL), is providing assistance or linking to representation in obtaining access to benefits, services, and programs to which a consumer may be entitled. In many cases protection of the consumer’s rights is the basic issue. The other category is community and systems advocacy services which focus on local and state policy change that makes facilities, services, and opportunities available and accessible to individuals with disabilities. This category of advocacy service is expected to benefit many individuals and may take an extended period of time and a significant amount of resources to deliver and complete.
The general goal in the category of individual advocacy is to improve the management of individual cases and increase the amount of effort in follow-up after connecting the consumer to the service provider. The objectives are to develop and train staff in assessing and describing advocacy problems and begin to collect data on all advocacy issues, especially those concerning lack of choice, lack of access, and lack of opportunity. Improved data collection and classification will assist the Community Services division in developing an advocacy campaign or community development initiative which will overcome a major barrier for a group or class of consumers. Independence Place is committed to identifying, planning and initiating class advocacy campaigns as the need arises and resources permit. Independence Place, Inc. is committed to develop and implement the center’s system advocacy activities and processes while continuing to improve individual advocacy services.
U.S. Representatives
State Representatives
ADA Action Network
Client Assistance Project
Protection & Advocacy
Human Rights Commission
KY Housing Corporation Fair Housing Council