Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Resource center helps disabled live independently

Audry Olmsted El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

A non-profit advocacy agency with the goal of promoting equal rights and opportunities for all people with disabilities has opened its doors and is ready to help disabled people in the Socorro area live a more independent life.

The new Socorro-based office for Independent Living Resource Center held an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday at its new office space across from the Plaza.

Throughout the day, people were invited to stop by the office and have refreshments and ask questions about the center.

During the ceremony, Gil Yildiz, executive director of the center, said she wants to help people to not feel held back or separated from others because they are disabled.

"Our whole mission is to help disabled people live a life they want to live," she said. We like to think physically disabled people are capable of living a normal life."

The agency was founded in 1989 and works with people in Bernalillo, Valencia, Cibola, Sandoval, Torrance, Guadalupe, DeBaca and now Socorro counties.

The self-help center provides a variety of services including: independent living skills training, peer counseling, information and referral to more than 400 disabled people. The center also provides funding for home and vehicle modifications, adaptive devices and other goods and services for disabled people in 19 counties in New Mexico.

The agency helps people of all ages and with all levels of disabilities, Yildiz said.

"There's no mystery to us. We just want to live our life out there," she said.

Thayalin Courtright, an independent living resource specialist who will be working out of the Socorro office, said it would be a proud day when the center closed its doors forever because there were no more disabled people needing their assistance.

"We're running ourselves out of business," Yildiz said.

Yildiz said a lot of times, the center is an information resource for the disabled who are wanting to work, but do not understand their social security or medical benefits.

"There's a lot of incentive out there for the disabled to return to the workforce," Courtright said.

Yildiz added that the center is there to help disabled people meet their basic needs.

"Our mission is to increase the independence of disable people," she said.

Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker, who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, said the city was in the works to redesign the plaza to make it more accessible to disabled people.

Yildiz said the center would try to meet the needs of the estimated 3,000 people in the Socorro area who are disabled. She said the center would work with the community to help makes such places as businesses and restaurants accessible to all people.

Courtright said the community betters itself when it helps disabled people be more present and visible in the community.

"The more we help each disabled person, the better of the community will be," he said.

Courtright said as part of his job he educates the community about disabled people and goes into the community to find out what the community needs.

Courtright will be working with Deborah Thompson, also an independent living resource specialist, in helping disabled Socorroans lead an independent life.

Yildiz said there was one major difference between Independent Living Resource Center and other agencies in town that provide services to disabled people.

"We have a unique perspective because we are a consumer-run agency," she said.

Over 80 percent of the board and staff are people with significant disabilities.

Yildiz said all agencies, though, have the same basic philosophy. She said that probably one of the bigger issues the center will face is transportation accessibility for the disabled.

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