Alliance of People with disAbilities - Seattle and Bellevue, WA

Location: Seattle and Bellevue, WA

Independent Living Centers can be found in every state across our nation. The Alliance of People with disAbilities was established in 1977 to serve the residents of King county, and has offices’ located in Seattle and Bellevue.  Our staff strives to provide empowering opportunities to individuals with disAbilities through resource referrals and private independent living plans.  Supporting a message of equality, inclusion and choice is rooted in the individuals that are members of our staff and board of directors. The majority of our management, staff, and Board of Directors are individuals with different types of disAbilities, which allows us to show people we work with different methods of gaining independence that stem from our personal experience facing systems that are often barriers.

An Independent Living Center is a community-based nonprofit organization. Our center started in 1973 after a group of King County disability rights activists joined together to urge enactment of regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The rehabilitation act provides a guide to what all people with disAbilities should expect, equal access for all! The Alliance provides services to individuals with disAbilities in small group activities and individual plans to work towards ensuring that barriers are reduced and eventually removed. Our providers introduce tools to improve our consumers’ access to: housing, employment, transportation, assistive technology, community resources, recreational facilities, healthcare, and social service resources.

Throughout the last few decades our organization has changed and matured; we serve thousands of participants yearly, employ a dedicated staff of service providers, host volunteers, and are guided by our board of directors. In 2014, the Alliance gained a valuable new team member, Kimberly Heymann. Ms. Heymann fills the position as our new Executive Director.

The Alliance provides a variety of services to any person in the community who has any disability, regardless of age or national origin (citizens and non-citizens, alike). Alliance services can be categorized into five area.

1. Information and Referral: Our friendly, professional, and caring staff can help you locate and access resources to complete your goals.

2. Independent Living Skills Training: We can help you perfect the life skills you need to live as independently as you wish.

3. Peer Support: Peer groups meet regularly and are a great way to gain skills and to share resources, experience, and support.

4. Advocacy: Staff advocates with the community for changes in policies and practices to ensure the civil rights of people with disabilities. We can help perfect the skills you need to gain the services you need in a direct and forthright manner, and when dealing with a big company or corporation, we’ll help ensure you don’t get lost in the crowd.

5. Transition: A) Moving people from institutions into the community with appropriate support. B) Serving individual who are at risk for institutionalization C) Transiting youth ages 13 – 24 from education into post – secondary schooling or employment