A Policy Analysis of State Plans for Independent Living in the U.S.

People aging with disability and people of retirement age depend upon their respective states to follow the philosophical tenets of independent living (IL) to remain self-sufficient in their communities with a high quality of life. Independent living services are specified, programmatic sets of services funded by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in line with expressly stated goals for implementation by state agencies for their state indepdent living centers (SILCSs) to implement through a State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL). Designated state agencies are required to submit their SPIL every three years to maintain funding through the ACL. This policy analysis of funded state plans for inclusion of people with disability aimed to determine which SPILs promote the IL philosophies of consumer choice and control. To this end, qualitative and quantitative content analyses were done to evaluate SPIL's inclusion of IL philosophies. Specifically, the consumer choice and control philosophy, involvement of people with disability, as well as the coherency of IL services from state to state were reviewed. The results of this paper indicate disparities in consumer choice and control initiatives across states, with approximately half of all states clearly promoting consumer control initiatives in their plans. Only three states made it clear that people with disability were involved in the SPIL development. The results give direction for nursing organizations who wish to work with and support SILCs as they advocate for person-centered approaches for people with disability.