Lane Independent Living Alliance (LILA) - Eugene, OR

Location: Eugene, OR.

Lane Independent Living Alliance (LILA) is a non-residential, consumer-controlled organization serving people with physical, mental, cognitive, and sensory disabilities in Lane County, Oregon.

LILA addresses the significant accessibility, housing, employment, civil rights, voting rights, recreational, and other issues faced by community residents with disabilities.

Services

Lane Independent Living Alliance (LILA) offers four (4) core services to people with disabilities. These core services are essential to the efforts of people with disabilities to live independently, and include:

1. Information and Referral (I & R): LILA maintains extensive resource information on numerous disability related topics that might include housing, transportation, legislation, laws, adaptive equipment, employment opportunities, support groups, and lists of contacts in other service organizations and agencies.

2. IL Skills Training: LILA provides training and instruction to assist individuals to gain skills, such as using transportation systems, managing budgets, using adaptive equipment, making good decisions, job skills, grooming, and many other subjects.

3. Peer Counseling: LILA offers opportunities for persons with disabilities to meet with other persons who experience disabilities, with the goal of allowing these “peers” to explore options, problem solve situations, discuss how to make adjustments, and provide support about the challenges of living with a disability.

4. Advocacy: LILA provides two types of advocacy. We assist persons with disabilities to obtain the necessary support services and accommodations from other agencies and individuals in the community. This is called individual advocacy. In this process, consumers learn self-advocacy. We also work with communities and organizations to initiate changes within communities, agencies, businesses, government entities, etc. to promote activities which will create a more accessible and inclusive environment for persons with disabilities to live more independently. This is what is known as systems advocacy.