(Image: Doug Brown and Gene Turitz, founders of Center for Independent Living’s Van Modification Shop, carrying the CIL banner at the Disabled Peoples’ Civil Rights Day March and Rally in San Francisco, Oct. 20, 1979. Credit: Ken Stein)
The Center for People With Disabilities (CPWD) is one of the nine Centers for Independent Living (CILs) in Colorado, which were founded on the philosophy of the Independent Living Movement. The Independent Living Movement emerged from the belief that individuals with disabilities should enjoy the same civil rights, choices, and autonomy as those without disabilities. Its roots began in the 1960s and 1970s, a period marked by significant social activism in the United States. The movement was heavily Influenced and supported by the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements.

Image: Roberts speaking at a disability leadership conference in 1981. He is pictured seated in a chair with a strap across his chest and a microphone near his mouth.
One of the most pivotal figures in the early ILM was Ed Roberts. After contracting polio as a teenager, Roberts became reliant on a wheelchair and a respirator commonly known as an iron lung. In 1962, he made history as the first student with severe disabilities to attend the University of California, Berkeley. His enrollment and incredible advocacy efforts led to the creation of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living in 1972, the first organization of its kind run by and for people with disabilities. To learn more about Ed Roberts, read this previous article about his life and work.
The Independent Living Movement’s momentum was fostered through several significant legislative victories. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, particularly Section 504, was a landmark achievement that prohibited discrimination based on disability in federally funded programs. This law was passed after the country’s longest sit-in protest to date through a collaboration between members of the disability community and the Black Panther Party (read more about this pivotal moment in history here.) This legislation laid the groundwork for future changes in policy to support the disability community. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 further expanded these protections, outlawing discrimination in employment, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications, and became the cornerstone piece of legislation for disability rights. Learn more about the history of ADA here.
Inspired by the Berkeley model, CILs were established across the United States. These non-residential, community-based organizations, such as CPWD, provide services and advocacy to promote independent living, self-determination, and community integration. CPWD, like many CILs, embodies the Independent Living Movement’s commitment to empowering individuals through peer support and consumer control, ensuring that services are designed and administered by people with disabilities. Almost 70% of CPWD’s staff and board members are individuals with disabilities. To learn more about CILs, check out this previous article.
What is the Independent Living Movement?
The Independent Living Movement is built on the principles of self-determination, the idea that people with disabilities should have control over their own lives and decisions. ILM also focuses on peer support, which gives the opportunity for people with disabilities to empower each other to live their lives to the fullest potential. By focusing on accessibility, the Independent Living Movement’s goal is to remove barriers to full societal participation and allow for consumer control, ensuring that individuals with disabilities oversee the services intended for them.
It also focuses on deinstitutionalization, which emphasizes moving people out of large, impersonal institutions into community-based living arrangements. For hundreds of years, people with disabilities were forced to live in dehumanizing conditions within institutions, cast off to the fringes of society. The Independent Living Movement underscores the importance of living in the community rather than in institutions, asserting that individuals have the right to live in their own homes, make their own choices, and participate fully in community life.
From the roots of the Independent Living Movement and the first CIL grew Independent Living Philosophy, which emphasizes that disability is a natural part of the human experience and does not diminish a person’s right to live independently, make choices, and pursue meaningful goals. Independent Living Philosophy rejects a version of the medical model, which views disabilities as problems that need to be fixed. Rather, it embraces the social model, which views disabilities as a normal expression in the vast diversity of humanity. As such, Independent Living Philosophy sees societal barriers and ignorant attitudes as the main obstacles to independence and full life participation for persons with disabilities. It espouses that individuals with disabilities are the experts on their own needs and goals. Individuals themselves should be the ones to design and manage services, advocate for their rights, and make decisions about their own lives.
Present Focus of the ILM

A young man with infantile cerebral palsy is sitting in a multifunctional wheelchair, using a computer with a wireless headset, reaching out to touch the touch screen.
Over the years, the Independent Living Movement has evolved to address a broader range of issues. Early efforts focused on basic civil rights and physical access to buildings and homes, but today’s movement includes more diverse needs and experiences. Technological advancements have created both opportunities and challenges, with assistive technologies enhancing independence while raising concerns about digital accessibility. The movement now advocates for universally designed products and services to ensure inclusivity.
The Independent Living Movement also increasingly embraces intersectionality, recognizing that individuals can face multiple, overlapping forms of discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other factors. This has led to more inclusive advocacy efforts that consider the unique experiences of people with disabilities from other marginalized groups. (Check out this previous article on Intersectionality here).
The Future
With an aging population, the number of people with disabilities is expected to rise, presenting both challenges and opportunities. Advocates work to ensure that aging individuals with disabilities have access to the necessary services and supports for independent living. Access to affordable, high-quality health care, long-term services, and home care providers remains a serious issue. Advocates support policies that support community-based care options and oppose funding cuts to vital programs like Medicaid. CPWD is actively engaged in Systems Advocacy, where we seek to undo laws and policies that present barriers (intentionally or unintentionally) to independence, and support new laws and policies that increase resources, accessibility, equity, equality, and independence.
Looking ahead, the Independent Living Movement will likely maintain its focus on advocacy, innovation, and coalition-building. Continuing to protect and expand the rights of people with disabilities through legislation and policy advocacy are essential to expanding rights and equality for the disability community. The Independent Living Movement has made significant strides since its inception, and more work remains and will continue to evolve as our society changes. Through continuous education of core principles and adapting to new challenges, the Independent Living Movement can continue to empower individuals with disabilities and bring awareness to those who don’t have disabilities while building a more inclusive society for all.
If you or someone you love is interested in finding out how CPWD can be of support in the journey to independent living, please reach out to us at [email protected], or call (303) 442 – 8662.