Approved by the NCIL membership July 2011

WHEREAS, Mad Pride celebrates the human rights and spectacular culture of people considered very different by our society;

WHEREAS, The name “Mad Pride” got its start in London when activists there saw a Gay Pride event and got madly inspired;

WHEREAS, Mad Pride may be celebrated anytime but is most often observed in the month of July, usually on or around July 14, Bastille Day;  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July 2011

WHEREAS, The Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities has published a “Fact Sheet” for Centers for Independent Living on “Serving People with Psychiatric Disabilities”;

WHEREAS, the “Fact Sheet” attempts to draw a connection between CILs and psychiatric providers by urging CILs to direct consumers with mental/emotional disabilities to medical and other professional service systems over consumer-run services and other forms of peer support;  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2011

WHEREAS, involuntary treatment of any kind is inherently damaging emotionally and physically;

WHEREAS, Electroshock (also called electroconvulsive therapy or ECT) has been documented to cause potentially permanent memory loss and cognitive deficits/learning disabilities and has a high risk of also causing epilepsy or other seizure disorders, cardiovascular complications and even death;  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership June, 2009

WHEREAS, NCIL believes it is the commitment of the Independent Living Movement to support and advocate for accessible and affordable housing for all people with disabilities throughout the United States.

WHEREAS, all people with disabilities need housing that will preserve health and vitality and preclude exposures that may further compromise wellbeing.  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2008

WHEREAS, NCIL believes it is the commitment of the Independent Living movement to advocate for the human and civil rights of all people with disabilities throughout the United States.

WHEREAS, to secure the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people with disabilities into society, it is necessary to defend their right to an integrated lifestyle.  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, in order to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities into society, it is necessary to protect the fundamental right of people with disabilities to reproduce and to raise their children; and

WHEREAS, NCIL believes it is not a person’s disability that inhibits a person’s capacity to provide a stable and loving home for children, rather it is a lack of disability related supports for a parent with a disability that can result in an unstable home environment; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, cases have arisen recently in which a health care provider has sought to withhold life sustaining medical treatment despite the expressed objection of the individual or their authorized representative; and

WHEREAS, most states have health care decisions laws which include “futility” provisions permitting physicians to refuse to follow an advance directive or individual decision in favor of treatment; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, the Washington state case of Ashley X, the parents of a severely disabled child decided to limit her growth through the use of estrogen therapy, in conjunction with a hysterectomy and breast bud removal, in order to keep her small and sexually immature; and

WHEREAS, the child in question is unable to communicate her preferences on her own behalf due to her disability; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, historically people with disabilities have been treated as less than human by many segments of our society, including the medical community; and

WHEREAS, an example of this belief, is the use of people with disabilities in lethal and inhumane experiments by doctors in Nazi Germany, who murdered and forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousand people with disabilities during WWII; and  [Read more…]

Approved by the NCIL membership July, 2007

WHEREAS, historically, persons with disabilities have been marginalized, stigmatized, and deprived of opportunities and freedoms afforded to individuals without disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus a landmark treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on December 13 2006, to promote and protect the rights of the world’s 650 million Disabled people; and  [Read more…]