Update: The opening of the Community Access Center office has been delayed until February due to communication issues. The opening date will be announced when the center is ready to go forward with its efforts to provide help to people who are dealing with disabilities.
A Community Access Center office will soon open in the Sun City section of Menifee to provide services needed by seniors, including Senior Low Vision Kits, wheelchair ramps, help with sight issues and other issues to help people with disabilities remain independent.
CAC is one of 29 Independent Living Centers in California. An independent living center is a consumer controlled, community based, cross disability, nonresidential private nonprofit agency that is designed and operated within a local community by individuals with disabilities.
Independent living services maximize the ability to live independently in the environment of one’s own choosing. The 29 independent living centers offer five core services mandated by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. California added two additional core services.
Cores services provided at the CAC will be:
Information and referrals
Advocacy
Independent living skills
Assistive technology
Peer counseling
Personal Assistance Services
Housing
Independent living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at disability and society, and a worldwide movement of people with disabilities working for self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunities. In the context of eldercare, independent living is seen as a step in the continuum of care, with assisted living being the next step.
Proponents of the IL Movement claim that preconceived notions and a predominantly medical view of disability contribute to negative attitudes toward people with disabilities, portraying them as sick, defective and deviant persons, as objects of professional intervention, as a burden for themselves and their families, dependent on other people’s charity.
Chuck Reutter, a longtime resident of the Sun City area of Menifee, shares his thoughts on the senior scene here monthly.
