History
Prior to opening our doors over 25 years ago in Lawrence, the greater Merrimack Valley region provided few options for people with disabilities besides life in a nursing home, state hospital or residential school. In 1980, that all began to change when we started identifying people with disabilities and their families to provide them with Independent Living (IL) services. The need for IL advocacy and services was over-whelming for our staff of 3 people. Traveling from house to house, and institution to institution, we were completely committed to spreading the word of IL and building a foundation for fundamental change.
NILP subscribes heavily to peer role modeling. People with disabilities working together to achieve independence are likely to bond to their shared experience of disability, which makes teaching and counseling much easier and more immediate. Additionally, fundamental to the IL philosophy is cross-disability - the belief that IL is a right for people with all types of disabilities. Peer role modeling takes on an even greater significance when considering the unique differences of each disability group.
People who are pre-lingually deaf have their own language (i.e. American Sign Language) and culture. It makes no sense for a hearing person to be a role model, even if they have some other type of disability. The appropriate, and most effective role model is a deaf person. Thus, in order to meet the IL needs of people with different types of disabilities, NILP has developed disability specific programs, with qualified staff that have similar disabilities functioning as peer role models in each program.
Also present in all of our work are a minimum of 4 basic core IL services: Peer Counseling, Skills Training, Advocacy and Information and Referral. Our programs and projects include: A Smoother Transition, Deaf and Hard of Hearing IL Services, Career Development Resource Assessment Project, Adults with Physical Disabilities, Services to Mental Health Consumers/Psychiatric Survivors, and the Independent Living/Vocational Rehabilitation Project. This past year, NILP served over 1200 people living in the 30 cities and towns we cover.
NILP's by-laws require that a minimum of 51% of its Board of Directors is people with disabilities that reflect the disability community we serve. The same holds true for the staff at all levels. Further, anyone who has received services during the year is eligible to vote for the Board at its Annual Meeting.
