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Carmichael House,
North Brunswick St.,
Dublin 7,
Ireland.
Tel. 01 8730455
01 8730986
Fax: 01 8730998
Email:
info@dublincil.org
Independent Living Case Study Research Project
In 2005 the Center for Independent Living (CIL) Dublin embarked on some Independent Living research. Supported by a grant from the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, it was prepared as a collaboration between Dr Pauline Conroy and Niamh Murphy of Ralaheen Research & Design Ltd, and CIL Dublin. The research comprised of a number of case studies derived from, and based on experiences by and with members of CIL. Researchers invited paragraphs on Independent Living (IL)for inclusion in the study, to complement the case studies and provide a wider picture around the following themes:
- Transport and Independent Living – focusing on areas such as bus, train and taxi services, preferred mode of transport, the image of transport for disabled people or transport policy.
- Gender and Independent Living – focusing on gender and employment, sex of Personal Assistants (PA's) and its significance, reproduction and motherhood/fatherhood or gender and the PA-Leader relationship.
- Personal growth as a result of Independent Living – focusing on life before PA Services, life changes due to PA's, and hopes for the future.
- Emergence and transition to Independent Living
- Change with family as a result of Independent Living – focusing on either positive or negative changes or Leaders family's reaction to them living independently.
- The PA – Leader relationship – focusing around changes to the PA-Leader relationship over time and a Leaders understanding of this relationship (e.g. does a Leader see a PA as an employee, companion, a means to undertake certain tasks?), or any aspects of the PA-Leader relationship that a Leader finds difficult to handle (e.g., keeping a professional relationship).
- The experience of using PA's – focusing on areas such as organising PA's (e.g. organising their hours and timesheets), how much work is involved for the Leader, recruiting and selecting PA's, ending the work relationship or a Leaders expectations of PA's.
- Housing, location and Independent Living
- The role of assistive technology in Independent Living
The final research report ''Extending the boundaries: Our experience of Independent Living' was launched in the NDA on Wednesday February 22, 2006, along with two other IL initiatives (the National Advisory Group (NAG) and the Strasbourg 2005 Freedom Drive DVD). It is hoped that this well-edited report will be of value to policy making - especially in the period following the enactment of the Disability Bill, 2005.