Table of Contents
History, Background, Mission History & Background Mission
History, Background, Mission
STATEN ISLAND CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING, INC.
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The independent living movement began in the early 1960's when disabled individuals united and began to actively lobby for equal rights. As a direct result of their consistent voice, in 1973, the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) was enacted. This legislation granted persons with disabilities protection against discrimination in employment, non-sectarian tax-exempt schools, public housing accommodations, and training programs. Following this spirit and example, the Staten Island Center for Independent Living, Inc. (SICIL) was established in 1984 at Seaview Hospital and Home. It became a separately incorporated entity in 1985, and after several site changes, is now permanently headquartered in a completely accessible facility at 470 Castleton Avenue in West Brighton, Staten Island. SICIL is the only comprehensive, multi-service provider in the borough, staffed and governed by individuals who have personal experience with a disability. In addition, SICIL is the borough's only organization serving persons of all ages and levels of physical and mental ability with a cost-free, complete range of services, and providing them with access to a network of resource providers. annually, SICIL directly serves approximately 250 people, and assists an additional 300 individuals with referral and advocacy services.
Back to topMission
SICIL's mission is to provide all individuals with the information, life skills training, and facilitative assistance which contributes to independence, individuality, and integration in the community and provides the skills and knowledge necessary to function in the least restrictive, personally fulfilling, most self-reliant, and productive manner. SICIL is committed to providing the support, information, and resources necessary for people with disabilities to enjoy lives determined by their choices and preferences.
Believing that a disability is not an inability, and expressing independence, choice, and self-advocacy, SICIL utilizes a peer approach in all possible instances, and strives to remove the attitudinal and architectural barriers that hinder people from reaching their full potential and completely participating in, and contributing to, community life. To ensure civil rights, SICIL actively strives to eliminate the communication and physical obstacles that limit options for disabled individuals. Our mission, vision, governance, and services offered are determined by the population we serve. As the only agency in the borough, primarily staffed and governed by persons who have had personal experience with a disability, SICIL is uniquely qualified to assist our consumers in their efforts to live, work, worship and recreate in their own community, and to reach their full potential.
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