Thursday, June 16, 2016
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our website this week! As always, we are so pleased that you have chosen to spend some of your valuable time reading our blog, and connecting with the ILO network.
As our regular visitors, self-advocates and participating family members already know, ILO is a 501c3 certified charitable organization created with the objective of bringing together families, self-advocates, community groups, and organizations with the intention of establishing sustainable, integrated, intentional communities for adults with disabilities.
As many of you may not be aware, the most recent housing statistics show that in the US today, more than three quarters of individuals with developmental disabilities live with their parents – a situation that is unsustainable. The millions of adults with developmental disabilities coming of age threatens to overwhelm service systems that are not set up to provide individualized, community oriented programming.
Enter ILO – in the face of this daunting projection, we are looking into the future to avoid a situation in which many will be alone and dependent on limited government resources. Our innovative model engages government, businesses, non-profit organizations, and families in a collaborative solution that gives this vulnerable population a change to live a full life with the support they need and the dignity they deserve, through adulthood and well after their parents are no longer alive.
Interested in learning more about how ILO helps adults with developmental disabilities, and how you can help ILO? Please read on.
ILO: How We Help
ILO’s vision is to provide individuals with disabilities the choice and opportunity to live, work, and play as fully respected members of a community that offers an array of supports and services designed to create and maintain a safe environment. We want this environment to promote independent living, employment, and recreational activities. ILO pledges to accomplish exactly that by working together to establish new cooperative communities and support arrangements that are person-centered, maximize self-direction, and fully support community integration, participation and inclusion.
The ILO process begins with family training and an assessment to help self-advocates identify their hopes, interests, abilities, and support needs. From this information, ILO and its partners help each family create a life plan with their loved one. A well-developed plan involves bringing together specific friends, family members, service providers, educations, professionals, and community resources to support every component of the self-advocate’s life: at home, at work, around the neighborhood, during evenings and/or on weekends. The network for each individual will look different, as each is designed to help the self-advocate live, work, navigate, connect and have fun according to his or her definition of a full life.
Once this life plan & support network is in place, ILO will continue to advocate on behalf of the self-advocate, both as an initial and ongoing liaison between support services and family; ILO can also facilitate the development of an ongoing, interactive plan for the self-advocate and his/her family to maintain and develop independent living skills.
Note: To learn more about the services that ILO can offer, please visit our Services page.
Support ILO by Donating and Helping to Raise Awareness
Just like everyone else, adults with developmental disabilities deserve to live full and independent lives. With the right supports, they can. Integrated Living Opportunities is devoted to providing those supports, and to facilitating the networks of support that will surround self-advocates now, in the future, and well after their parents/guardians are gone.
Now that you are aware of how important the work that ILO does is to the futures of adults with developmental disabilities, we are asking you for your support. Be a part of the solution for those looking for viable independent living options by making a tax-deductible donation to ILO today. You can do so by visiting our Donate page on our website, clicking the Donate button on our Facebook Page, or by contacting us at info@ilonow.org.
We would also really appreciate it if you helped spread the word about ILO, you can do so by directing friends, family, colleagues, etc. to visit any of our social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, G+), by sharing our website, or by encouraging others to subscribe to our weekly blog (found on the right hand side of all ILO’s blog webpage).
Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to visit our blog, and those of you that will support ILO either by donating or by helping us to raise awareness of the work we do. Your support allows us to continue to build and grow ILO’s networks of support. If you have any questions about ILO or would like to learn about becoming a participating family, please don’t hesitate to contact us. See you all next week!
