ILC Showcases the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto

For 25 years, the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT) has been providing services to people with disabilities in the Greater Toronto community. CILT is an integral part of the national Independent Living Canada network of Centres, and since its inception, it has been a leader in providing consumerdriven and directed services.

CILT grew out of consumers' frustrations with agencies that were supposed to serve all their needs but only focused on specific disabilities or programs. In 1982, in response to these concerns, a steering committee led by the Community Occupational Therapy Association (COTA), different disability organizations, and interested consumers established an information centre aimed at assisting people through the maze of human services. A proposal was written, and in 1984, COTA received a developmental grant from the federal government to fund a Centre for Independent Living.

By 1985, CILT was registered as a "non-profit corporation" and program development was underway. CILT started by offering programs in information and referral, self-advocacy, and housing and attendant care registries. In 1986, it added peer support and hosted a range of information forums on transportation and housing, and within a few years, it was running public education programs and a radio program devoted completely to disability-related issues.

In 1990, CILT became involved with the Direct Funding Program (DF) that finally provided people with disabilities with a grant so that they could hire, train and manage their own attendants instead of giving money to agencies to dispatch these services. Also in 1990, CILT moved into the television world with the "Disability Network," the first TV show focused on disability issues.

Throughout the 1990s, CILT's programs and reputation continued to grow, with programs offered on literacy and to support youth with disabilities. It also created a number of award-winning videos on abuse prevention for both adults and youth with disabilities, and developed and implemented groundbreaking anti-discrimination and harassment policies and procedures. CILT also produced an important resource for parents called "The Parenting Book for Persons with a Disability."

The new century saw CILT launch its own website and a series of online resources to assist consumers and help educate the public. It also joined with the City of Toronto and other disability organizations to make the United Nations Day for People with Disabilities a major event in the life of Canada's largest city.

In recent years, CILT led the awardwinning Gateways to Cancer Screening Project, designed to improve facilities and opportunities for women with disabilities to screen for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers. Now in its second phase, Gateways has helped educate consumers and health-care professionals on the need to improve accessibility to health-care services, and will continue to push providers to address the needs of women with disabilities.

Another recent project is called the Safe Engaged Environments Disability, or SEED project. SEED, funded by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, brings people with disabilities and their supporters together to identify common concerns and successes related to community safety.

IL Canada is proud of the work that CILT has done to change the face of disability and the perceptions that the public and media have about persons with disabilities. This year we will be holding our Annual General Meeting in Toronto to celebrate their silver anniversary and wish them even greater success in the next 25 years.

For more information about CILT's programs and successes, visit www.cilt.ca.

Article by Mike Martin