Impact: Independent Living In Canada

Impact:

Changing the Way We View Disability
The History, Perspective and Vision of the Independent Living Movement in Canada

This book is and was a labour of love project, undertaken by IL Canada to document the rich history and future of Independent Living Movement in Canada. Many consumers and IL leaders were interviewed to bring this book to life and be an accurate portrayal of IL in Canada! 

Introduction
During the last three decades, the Independent Living movement has played a significant role in enhancing the lives of Canadians with disabilities. This book chronicles this movement since its inception in the late 1970s. It also highlights how the Independent Living idea of citizenship rights and full participation has had an enormous impact on Canadian communities.

In framing this book around Independent Living as a social movement, we show how Independent Living Centres across Canada ground the movement's vision in the everyday lives of people and communities. This is a story of resilience and possibilities, as people with disabilities take charge of their own lives and work with others to create positive change in their communities.

We used three main approaches in researching and writing this book. First, we reviewed all the relevant documents related to Independent Living in Canada. Second, we conducted numerous interviews with leaders in the movement, and spent time in conversation with people at selected Independent Living Centres. Finally, we invited members and consumers to share their stories with us. Some people sent us their written stories, while others were interviewed by our story writer.

Once we had gathered all the resources and stories, we identified common themes across various sources of information. We reviewed these initial themes and eventually formulated 13 chapters. In Part I, we review the history and context of the Independent Living movement in Canada. In Part II, we explore the numerous ways that Independent Living has had an influence and impact across Canada. In Part III, we reflect on the issues facing the movement now and in the future. To ground these final chapters, we draw on the wisdom of leaders in the movement to share their hopes and dreams for the future.

Many people have supported our journey to create Impact: Changing the Way We View Disability. A special thanks to all the consumers across Canada who shared their stories with us. We also want to thank the members and leaders who willingly participated in interviews with us.

Finally, we express our gratitude to the reviewers who took time to give us feedback on various drafts of the writing: Jihan Abbas, Sandra Carpenter, Charlotte Dingwall, Pam Johnson, Tracy Knutson, Theron Kramer, and Traci Walters.

We trust that this book can serve as an important milestone for this incredible Social movement. While there are many hurdles ahead in the desire of people with disabilities to experience full participation and equality, it is important to celebrate the progress and the impact to date.