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Centers for Independent Living and Transition-Age Youth: Empowerment and Self-Determination
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Wehmeyer, M. L. & Gragoudas, S.
(2004). Centers for independent living and transition-age youth: Empowerment and
self-determination. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 20(1), 53-58.
Article Summary
While public school systems have been responsible for transition services for
their students with disabilities, Centers for Independent Living (CILs)
generally provide such programs as job training, benefits advocacy, and
empowerment training. It is likely that schools traditional role in transition
planning for youth with disabilities has kept many CILs away from this
population.
Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) by Congress in 1990 emphasized these three goals (job training, benefits
advocacy, and empowerment training), thereby narrowing the
philosophical differences between public schools and CILs. This article focuses
on the opportunities for schools and CILs to work together to support
transition, empowerment, and self-determination for school-age youth.
Self-determination was incorporated into transition planning for students with
disabilities in the 1990s. The components of this philosophical shift have
offered special education students not only greater control over their futures,
but more input into the decision-making process as well. The authors
rhetorically questioned whether self-determination was important for students with
disabilities, and they answered with a resounding Yes based on the following:
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Federally mandated policies
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Students who are more self-determined are more likely to work for pay and live independently.
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Adult consumers with increased opportunities for decision-making experienced improved vocational rehabilitation (VR) outcomes.
The article includes a description of a cooperative program in Lawrence, Kansas,
whose components and curriculum could be readily duplicated in other areas as
well. The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living
Management (RRTC-ILM) researchers at the University of Kansas approached staff
from the public school system and Independence, Inc., a local Center for
Independent Living, with the idea to develop an empowerment group for students
with disabilities.
While certain aspects of the program were chosen ahead of time by the project
staff, the students practiced considerable decision-making regarding group as
well as individual goals. Participants in Friends for Life, the name chosen by
the students, were instructed as to their role in the development of their
Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and Transition Plans as well as providing
information about the types of services available through Independence, Inc. The
eight-week program ended on a festive note as the students planned and held a
bowling and pizza party.
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