The Independent Living Movement and people with psychiatric disabilities: Taking back control over our own lives.

In this paper, the question as to what the Independent Living Movement could mean for people with psychiatric disabilities is explored. Using the life story of a young man’s efforts to move out of a chronic care institution to his own apartment, the author shows independent living to be a grassroots movement of people with disabilities, a “lived philosophy” that grew out of the experience of people learning to take back control over their lives and the resources that affect their lives, and consumer controlled service delivery and advocacy centers. It is argued that although Independent Living was first developed for and by people with physical disabilities, the principles of Independent Living can work for people with psychiatric disabilities who are seeking to regain control over their own lives. Specific suggestions for developing programs for people with psychiatric disabilities are given and have been piloted through a program at the Northeast Independent Living Program in Lawrence, Massachusetts. “Betty, I have to go and do a training for all of the case managers in the state. You have had lots of case managers. What is the most important thing I should tell them?” “Tell them that no matter what they say, compliance is not the road to independence.”