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Carmichael House,
North Brunswick St.,
Dublin 7,
Ireland.
Tel. 01 8730455
01 8730986
Fax: 01 8730998
Email:
info@dublincil.org
Historical Perspective
In the United States during the 1960's discrimination against people with disabilities was identified as a major problem, thus leading it to become an issue of concern to the civil rights movement.
People with disabilities, like the African-Americans, were seen as having been marginalised by American society. The idea that all human beings, including people with many different types of disabilities, should have equal rights and opportunities under the law, became the cornerstone of the Independent Living Movement.
The first Center for Independent Living was established in Berkeley, California in 1972. Underpinning its establishment was people's attempts to leave residential care and live independently in the community. (Sharkey 2000)
Phil Draper, one of the founding members of the Independent Living Movement has said that the aim of the movement was to: "...develop a new perspective on disability- one which gave empowerment and civil rights to a person with disabilities...We were trying to give people the will and determination to move out of hospitals and institutions." (Cited by Greg Moore in an article on the History of the Center for Independent Living- 10/7/91)
Read More on the history of the Independent Living Movement in the U.S.