A community-based program that has substantial consumer involvement. It provides direct or indirect services necessary to assist severely disabled individuals to increase self-determination and minimize unnecessary dependence on others. We want to grow up in our families, go to the neighborhood school, use the same bus as our neighbors, work in jobs that are in line with our education and abilities, start families of our own. Just as everybody else, we need to be in charge of our lives, think and speak for ourselves. Independent Living should not be defined in terms of living on one's own.
Independent living has to do with self-determination.
It is having the right and the opportunity to pursue a course of action. And it is the freedom to fail and to learn from one's failures just as non-disabled people do. Many countries had similar approaches, yet there was also distinct variation within countries. Ultimately, this contributes to a philosophy of self-determination that independent living is what you decide it is. Most often this definition also included a sense of inherent civil or human rights which pointed to the universality of self-determination.