Core Services

RCIL offers five core services free of charge to individuals across all ages and disabilities that live in Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Coffey, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Linn, Lyon, Marion, Miami, Morris, Osage and Shawnee counties.  These services are generally provided by our Independent Living and Peer Specialists.

Information and Referral

Call RCIL with your questions about available community resources.  RCIL makes appropriate referrals to other community agencies to help individuals obtain services.  RCIL’s resource library provides valuable information on disability topics.

Advocacy

• Individual Advocacy – RCIL helps people with disabilities develop the skills they need to represent themselves.  These skills help them act on their own behalf to obtain support services from agencies in the community.
• Systems Advocacy – RCIL works at community, state and federal levels for policy changes that make facilities, services and opportunities accessible to people with disabilities.

Independent Living (IL) Skills Training

RCIL teaches the life skills that people use to live independently including budgeting, cooking, also, how to acquire and maintain housing, employment, transportation, medical equipment, healthcare, technology and more.

Peer Counseling

RCIL connects people with disabilities with other people who have disabilities and are living independently in the community.  Together, they explore options and solve problems that sometimes occur for people with disabilities. For example, they may help each other adjust to a newly acquired disability, adapt to changes in living arrangements, or learn to use community services more effectively.  The PEER (Peers Empowering Each other Responsibly) Program provides trained people with disabilities to work with peer consumers and provide peer counseling to develop and carry out their own independent living plan.  RCIL Friends are groups of individuals who all experience disability and meet monthly for peer counseling to address disability needs and issues in the community.

Youth Transition

RCIL offers Youth Transition services to individuals with disabilities ages 14-24. Youth Transition is an independent living service that helps youth identify, pursue, and accomplish their goals in regards to transitioning from high school to adulthood.

Deinstitutionalization

Individuals who live in a facility, or are at risk of entering one, have community options.  RCIL helps them learn their choices and find the resources they need for the option they choose.