Independent Living

Independent living works towards all disabled people having the same choice, control and freedom as any other citizen

Independent Living

The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit report Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People identified several key areas where action was needed in order to deliver the vision for equality for disabled people by 2025.

These included early years and family support, transition to adulthood, employment, and independent living.

What is independent living?

Independent living is about disabled people having choice and control over the support they need to go about their daily lives.

The Disability Rights Commission defined independent living as:

"all disabled people having the same choice, control and freedom as any other citizen - at home, at work, and as members of the community. This does not necessarily mean disabled people 'doing everything for themselves', but it does mean that any practical assistance people need should be based on their own choices and aspirations."
(Disability Rights Commission (2002) Policy Statement on Social care and Independent Living).

The Independent Living Review

The Independent Living review was launched in July 2006 to identify imaginative and practical solutions to support independent living for disabled people.

It was a cross-government project led by the Office for Disability Issues. On 3 March 2008 the Government published its Independent Living strategy. The strategy details policy commitments that seek to realise the Government’s vision of equality for disabled people by 2025.

Read about how the Independent Living team carried out the review.

The Independent Living Strategy

The Independent Living Strategy, published in March 2008, sets out Government commitments to improve the life chances of disabled people needing support. On 1 October 2008 - Older Person's Day - the ODI announced that it will be developing and publishing a resource on Independent Living and Older People and a Regional Action and Learning initiative for increasing choice and control for older people with high support needs.

'Full of Life' press release on government commitments (PDF, 2 pages, 20 KB)

Independent living action and learning sites scoping study

A new report published today by the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) presents the output of the scoping study conducted in 2008 that considered initiatives to demonstrate how to use resources to better promote choice and control.

The scoping study identifies candidate sites, explains the basis on which they were selected, provides an overview of their current plans and challenges, and outlines the main activities required to deliver change.

Download the study and background info on the research publications page.

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