Federal Statute Establishing State Independent Living Councils (SILC), United States, 1992

The attached 1992 federal statute established Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILC) in accordance to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, As Amended, and related provisions. The 56 SILCs are responsible, in collaboration with the 403 Centers for Independent Living (CIL) and the Designated State Entity (DSE), for setting the State Plan for Independent Living, which is required to receive Federal funding from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which also funds innovative transportation grants. Follow this link to Georgia’s SPIL.

Both the legislative and the activist language have their roots in Civil Rights era disability rights activism, which found their most visible expression in the formation of the first Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, California in 1972 and the ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) protests for accessible public transportation in Denver, beginning in 1978:

• Move from “‘patients’ or ‘clients’ in the role of sick or ‘impaired’ for whom care must be given…now saw themselves as consumers of services they chose and managed.”1
• CILs have a 51% representatives from disability community or family members.
• inclusive move towards seniors, veterans, et al.

Additional resources:

• Administration for Community Living (adminstrator since 2014) page explaining Independent Living and the role of Centers for Independent Living.
• The core membership organizations: ILRU (Independent Living Research Utilization); NCIL (National Council on Independent Living); APRIL (Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living).
• Guidebook for SILC Chairpersons, Members, and Administrators (updated November 2017) Developed as part of the SILC-NET, a program of the IL-NET, an ILRU/NCIL/APRIL National Training and Technical Assistance Project, which also includes the Utah State University Center for Persons with Disabilities.
• National Council on Independent Living homepage.

Contributed through a partnership between the Shared-Use Mobility Center and the National Center for Mobility Management  

Updated April 2018