The Independent Movement

To promote Independent Living for every person with disability in Israel through awareness raising, support, advocacy and activism. There is currently no broad and accessible answer in Israel for people with disabilities who wish to live an independent life in the community. The solutions proposed by the state are mostly institutional, placing great emphasis on protection and systemic considerations (not leaving 'vacant beds', cataloging according to disability and functional levels) and this at the expense of individual considerations, chiefly autonomy, privacy and choice. The services provided are conducted above the person's head in the communication between the government ministries and the suppliers, which weakens the bargaining power and standing of the person in front of the service providers. Most of the people with disabilities who seek a response today are led to living a life without independence and exclusion from the community. The Independence Movement seeks to create a movement and a reality of independent life in the community in Israel for people with disabilities at all levels of functioning. The movement seeks to fill a major gap in Israel - today there is no one who encourages the choice of an independent life in the community and very little who possesses the professional knowledge to help realize this right. The independence movement seeks to meet this need by relying on the bubbling civilian forces operating in Israel. The involvement of citizens, families, activists who will create a movement from 'below' of choice and insistence on living independently in the community and fighting for deinstitutionalization.