Consumer control over services means that it is the consumer who has the primary responsibility for identifying needs, setting goals, developing plans and strategies, and achieving independent living objectives. Consumers in this model are active participants in the service process rather than passive recipients, as in the traditional medical or rehabilitation model of service delivery. Peer relationships are one of the key features of services organized around the principle of consumer control. In peer relationships, the two parties meet as equals. They share a common life experience with disability and have faced many of the same issues and barriers in their pursuit of independence.
Advocacy is an essential element in a center s programmatic design.
Community advocacy activities involve knowledge of the external environment, a commitment to providing opportunities to participate in the development of the advocacy agenda, and the experience and skills necessary to achieve the desired results. Through individual and collective advocacy efforts, people with disabilities acquire skills, abilities, and a greater understanding of how to affect the world in which they live. The involvement and control of people with disabilities in an independent living center s advocacy efforts is fundamental to the independent living mission of creating change and empowering people with disabilities to expand individual and community options and enhance the quality of their lives. It means having people with disabilities in key management roles. It means having direct service staff with disabilities who work with consumers to define their own needs, on their own terms, and with their own solutions.