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Northumberland Action Inc. (NAI) is a new organisation dedicated to setting up
an Independent Living Resource Centre here on the Miramichi.
"Independent Living was a movement started in Berkley, California in the 1970's,"
explains Larry Flanagan, Executive Director of NAI. "Basically, it is people with disabilities making their own decisions,
deciding what they're going to do, how they're going to do it, and taking more control of their lives."
The movement came to Canada in the early 1980's and now there are Independent
Living Resource Centres all across the country.
"We're the second one starting up in New Brunswick," he says. "We hope to be a
centre where people with disabilities will be able to turn to for solutions."
The Independent Living Mission is to promote and enable the progressive process
of citizens with disabilities taking responsibility for the development and management of personal and community resources.
Part of the project involves Information and Referral, which is providing assistance
with finding employment and housing, resolving pension problems and other issues.
"Information and Referral is probably one of the mainstays of the Independent
Living movement," Larry says. "That covers everything - all the resources you would need, any questions you would have. To
be able to find the answers whether it's through literature available, personnel or through the Internet - we hope to be able
to link them all together."
"Now, we're not necessarily going to do all the legwork for them," Larry says.
"We're going to show them how they can do some of this for themselves, but we will be there to help and guide them."
"An Information and Referral Centre, first and foremost I guess, would be a library
and a comfortable place for people to come and find solutions," he adds.
NAI will also be setting up peer support groups so people with the same kinds
of disabilities or problems will be able to meet and interact.
"You'll be able to sit down and hopefully come to a solution," Larry says. "You
will be able to talk to them about how they came to their ultimate goal."
One aspect of the centre they hope to have in place within the next two years
will focus on Independent Living and Empowerment Skills Development. There are a number of courses they want to become involved
with so they can be made available for clients.
Another aspect of the centre is Research and Service Development. They will assess
what is available in the area and whether it's accessible or inaccessible for people living with disabilities. After gathering
that information it will be made available to Independent Living clients and also be used as a guideline for new service development.
The process of opening an Independent Living Resource Centre for the Miramichi
has been ongoing for about five years.
"It originally started by a group of people with disabilities who got together
and set up a forum, the Miramichi Opportunities Forum," Larry recalls. "They looked at a number of comments and suggestions
about some of the short comings of our present system. After a lot of research into what the Independent Living movement was
all about, they decided this was the best way for them to go."
Currently, NAI is working on sustainability in terms of long-term funding, filing
for non-profit status with the Government of Canada, joining the Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres, and training
to be able to run some of the core programs like peer support groups.
"There's a lot of work to be done," Larry smiles. "The ideal is to become a member
of the Canadian Association of Independent Living and have some of the core money coming from them."
Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) currently funds them.
All of their services are free and they hope to have some programs in place as
early as August. But even though all the programs and services are not in place, NAI is open for business and available for
consultation to all people living with disabilities.
"We don't direct our help toward any specific disability group, but a cross of
disabilities," he adds. "We're there for anybody who has a disability of any type that would like to meet with us."
The NAI offices are located at 1753 Water Street in the Career Flight Building.
For more information call Larry Flanagan or Blake Dressler at 506.773.6203. Or email them at larryfnai@nb.aibn.com or blakednai@nb.aibn.com
To learn more about Independent Living visit the Canadian Association of Independent
Living Centres at www.cailc.ca.
Kellie Underhill is the editor of Bread 'n Molasses. Her
writing credits include The Moncton Times-Transcript, The Brunswick Business Journal, The Atlantic Chamber Journal and The
Reader magazine. Send comments about this article to editor@breadnmolasses.com. | 
