"Rewriting the Myths, Redefining the Realities"
On March 26, 2003 the Statewide Independent
Living Council (SILC) conducted an advocacy training workshop in
collaboration with the Colorado Springs Independence Center. The
SILC has collaborated with independent living centers around the
state to build an advocacy network capable of presenting an
effective voice on issues important to the disability community at
the local, state, and national levels. The Colorado Springs workshop
was the fifth of ten events that the SILC will sponsor. Independence
Center staff, consumers, and local elected officials who
participated in the workshop once again affirmed the importance of
strong advocacy if persons with disabilities are to achieve
independent lives. The work of the Colorado Springs Independence
Center (CSIC) provides a strong advocacy voice in its community.
The Center grew out of a grass roots effort led by a group of
persons with disabilities. Its Executive Director, Vicki Skoog,
founded the Center in the mid 1980’s. Its first home was in Vicki’s
garage. Initially CSIC offered transportation and home health
services. These services were essential for persons with severe
physical disabilities. “I was injured in an auto accident in 1971.
I’ve been a wheelchair user since then,” Vicki said. “I know from my
own experience what services are needed to live independently. I
don’t think you can ever fully know what it is like to live with a
disability unless you live it everyday.”
According to Vicki, the CSIC is what the independent living movement
means when it calls for IL centers to be community based, peer led
and directed, and cross disability. CSIC serves persons with
cognitive, sensory, emotional, and physical disabilities. The Center
is a force for change, always seeking ways to make the Colorado
Springs community more accessible to persons with disabilities. CSIC
works with local governments and other agencies to offer the range
of services that are needed to support the aspirations of the
disability community.
Advocacy is a high priority. In addition, CSIC has a diverse set of
services that compliment the Center’s advocacy mission. The Center
is divided into two administrative areas. One focuses on the home
health program and the other all remaining services. This second
area is known as independent living services. Nancy Hunt directs the
independent living programs. Nancy teaches independent living skills
classes, supervises a housing program, an assistive technology
center, and a nursing home transition grant. She also works directly
with consumers who need assistance. Her work often requires that she
become involved with policies in the community. “I often advocate
for changes in the system”, she said.
Nancy moved from Chicago a number of years ago to be near her three
grown sons. Before coming to Colorado Springs she worked with the
Catholic Church. She holds a Masters degree in ministry and carried
out a lay ministry in Chicago. She worked for a short time with the
Church in Colorado, but when her position was eliminated, she found
employment with CSIC. Initially she only taught the independent
living skills classes. When a staff member left the Center, she
became the Program Coordinator for the Independent Living
Department. “I believe what I am doing now is more of a ministry
than anything I have done before,” she said. “We try to give our
consumers a little hope. That’s what it’s all about.”
Ms. Hunt’s independent living skills classes involve three to five
consumers for ten weeks. She teaches food planning and preparation,
home management, money planning and preparation, home management,
money management, transportation planning, and personal hygiene and
health care. The classes teach students to live independently. She
also teaches consumers to advocate for themselves. Ms. Hunt says
that it is her goal to prepare a person to speak for himself or
herself. Some of the areas in which she works are Social Security,
Medicaid, and housing benefits.
Recently the CSIC staff has worked with El Paso County legislators
regarding the State proposed cuts in the Aid to the Needy Disabled.
Cuts will reduce the monthly amount of the AND program from $269 to
$100. Legislators have told Nancy that this program is discretionary
and, therefore, can be more easily cut to help the State close its
budget short fall. She has tried to make legislators aware of the
hardships that such a severe cut will create in the lives of already
needy persons, but the cuts seem unavoidable. She expresses deep
concern for the well-being of those who face trying to make ends
meet with such meager resources.
CSIC recently was awarded 60 new housing vouchers by the Colorado
Department of Housing to raise the number of vouchers the Center now
administers to 120. Cindi Brennan, coordinator of the Nursing Home
Transition grant, says that the voucher program is essential to
successfully transition persons from nursing homes to the community.
She has assisted eight persons making the move in the past year and
has several more individuals in the process of moving back into the
community.
Ms. Brennan has worked with CSIC for one year. In addition to
coordinating the Nursing Home Transition grant, Cindi coordinates
the assistive technology program and teaches computer skills to the
Center’s consumers. Prior to joining the Center staff, Cindi worked
with the Red Cross Homeless Shelter in Colorado Springs. She is
concerned that the Shelter program may be closed. She estimates that
200 CSIC consumers have also received services from the Shelter. The
closure of the Shelter would place a heavy burden on the Center and
its consumers, she believes.
The disability community faces cuts in services and funding to its
members very livelihood. However, strong leaders, such as Vicki
Skoog, Nancy Hunt, and Cindi Brennan refuse to give in to cynicism
and defeat. They are organizing a coalition of consumers and
agencies to work with their government to find solutions. One of the
participants in the advocacy workshop was the newly elected Mayor of
Colorado Springs. CSIC plans to use its contact with Mayor Lionel
Rivera to build a closer working relationship with the City. They
are also working with their County Commissioners and State
Legislators. They recognize the challenges that lie ahead, but they
are ready to confront those difficulties.
Each woman affirms that the consumers who they serve are severely
disabled. They are among the most impoverished persons in our
society. They face homelessness, hunger, and institutionalization.
They are persons with cognitive and emotional disabilities, and they
need assistance. They are also persons who long for dignity and
independence. Nancy seeks to leave each of her consumers with a
little hope. As she says, “That’s what it’s all about.”
There are heroic people like the staff at CSIC who are struggling to
keep the promise of the last several decades alive in the disability
community. This is a harsh unpleasant time in many ways. Our society
needs to support and learn from these heroes. Our leaders need to
learn that keeping hope alive among our most vulnerable citizens is
truly what it is all about.
Copyright 2002 A&H Publishing Corporation