30 years of FLIC

By Jamie Swinnerton
Tompkins Weekly

 

Before the American’s With Disabilities Act (ADA), there was the movement for independence centers, working to allow for people to live independently, based on their own wants and needs. Now, New York state has more than 40 independent centers, each tailored to their community and its needs. Here in Tompkins County, the Finger Lakes Independence Center in Ithaca is celebrating 30 years. For many, FLIC means equipment like wheelchairs and ramps. But what it has offered to the Finger Lakes community over the years is so much more.

One of the things that FLIC is well known for in the area is the Loan Closet. For community members who find themselves in need of durable medical equipment like wheelchairs, crutches, canes, bed rails, and so much more, they can find them all in the Loan Closet.

“So sometimes it’s people that are having surgery, but sometimes it’s people who as they age are becoming part of the acquired disability population,” said Jan Lynch, Executive Director of FLIC. “Sometimes it’s people who have had a disability all their lives but they need something different.”

For smaller, everyday things that just make life a little easier, there’s the Try It Room. Before purchasing what could be an expensive piece of equipment or something that may just end up on the closet shelf for years, community members can try them out in the Try It Room to see if it’s something that they actually need or want. Larger grips for kitchen utensils, powerful magnifying glasses, tools to help the user put on socks or mark their money with brail, it’s all in the Try It Room.

“Adaptive and assistive equipment that people can come and try for a month, take it out for free, and if it meets their need we’ll help them figure out where they can buy it,” Lynch said. “Sometimes people only need something for a month, if they are recovering from a stroke or something like that they may not need to buy them, they may just need some help for a little while.”

But while these may be what FLIC has largely become known for in many circles, the equipment, and the focus on physical disability, isn’t the entire picture of what the independence center covers. Peer councilors at FLIC are ready to help anyone with a disability with practically anything they need.

“It’s often housing issues, which is a pretty broad topic in Ithaca,” Lynch said. “It can be advocacy for a lot of different things. It could help them get their social security disability or do an application for that.”

It’s easy to see what FLIC does for the members of the community with disabilities who come to the organization for help. But, what’s not on daily display, is the advocacy that the center does to make the community ADA compliant and accessible.

 

“We’re two things,” said Larry Roberts, who has been involved with FLIC in a number of roles for many years, including President of the Board and Program Director. “It’s a place where people can turn if they have any kind of question or a need related to disability because if we don’t know an answer to a question or if we don’t provide a service we know the people in the community that do. Then I also think they we are a good source of advocacy on a variety of issues across disability rights.”

What Roberts said he stressed as a staff member during his time there was that FLIC doesn’t focus on one type of disability or issue, there’s a variety of things the organization did. Although there are other organizations and people doing disability-related work, Roberts said one of the unique things about FLIC is that most of the staff at the center have personal experience with disabilities.

“I also think we had the ability, and have the ability, to focus on real systems issues, from trying to get sidewalks repaired, to trying to make things better for students in school districts, to teaching people American Sign Language,” Roberts said. “I think we’re really a civil rights voice, too, in a way that’s really important because we came into existence just a few years before the ADA was passed.”

Without the ADA, Roberts said disability rights activists would still be dealing with inadequate laws.

“FLIC is really a resource for finding out about the ADA, how it works, what’s possible, and also help people understand what its limitations are and how to use it, and also how to use other civil rights law,” Roberts said.

Being a resource for basic information about the ADA and other civil rights laws for people with disabilities is an aspect of the center Roberts said may not be well known. While the center itself isn’t a place for legal advice, FLIC is well connected to nearby resources that can help people who feel they have been discriminated against.

Jeff Boles, an Advocacy Specialist at FLIC who has been with the organization since 1997, said he thinks the independence center has worked to raise awareness of disability needs in the area through several different programs.

“Our presence alone not only raises awareness but is helping increase physical accessibility to places in Ithaca,” Boles said.

Although the ADA, which was passed in 1990, sets certain requirements for both private and public buildings, FLIC’s presence helps ensure some of those requirements, and more, are followed.

“Programs and services in buildings within Tompkins County are also required under the ADA,” Boles said. “If we weren’t here they may not be as accessible as they are.”

One of the services that FLIC offers is Accessibility Consultations to individuals, business owners, schools, and government agencies to help make physical spaces accessible. For individuals who find they need a wheelchair but don’t have an accessible front door, FLIC has ramps to borrow for both short and long-term needs.
Without FLIC, Boles said the community would likely have less awareness and education of disability issues. FLIC’s Community Outreach Program helps raise awareness and spread education about disabilities starts with a young audience, often visiting nearby schools, but also extends to programs at Ithaca College as well.

Although much of what FLIC does is to help and serve people with disabilities, both physical and mental, Boles said he wants people to know that the center is a community resource.

“We are also here to serve everybody and serve the community as well,” Boles said. “I point out to people that we are a great starting point for information and referrals.”

Boles said that in his experience people don’t truly know what an independence center does, even if they know what an independence center is. They often think of independence centers as only helping people with disabilities.

“I point out, often times, that accessibility is not just a disability issue, it’s an issue that everybody should be concerned with,” Boles said.

Several of the services FLIC offers are about helping people better understand disabilities and bring awareness to how everyone can be involved in disability issues. American Sign Language classes are offered at FLIC in eight-week segments. Workshops and training for schools, businesses, and other organizations about disability rights are offered for free to help develop sensitivity and knowledge.

About three years ago a new position was created when Amy Jo DeKoeyer joined the FLIC staff as a student transition and deaf services coordinator. DeKoeyer’s background has strong ties to education. She has worked as a deaf translator in schools for years. When she joined she asked for her two positions, which were originally two different part-time jobs, to be merged into one full-time position. As a student transition coordinator, she helps deaf students make the move from high school into whatever they want to do after.

“As an interpreter in the schools I was on a team of professionals that worked for the student, where in this role we focus on the person being independent, so they’re in the driver’s seat,” DeKoeyer said. “They tell us what they want. Mom and Dad might give us their opinion but the client is the student. I want to make sure that we’re listening to them and what they want.”

This advocacy can take many different forms. It could be making sure the student understands what their rights are in the state of the college they want to attend, as well as what the school can do to accommodate them. It could be showing a student helpful apps on their phone that allows them to be more independent. It could be helping them prepare for an interview for a job. What DeKoeyer really wants to do is help her clients to is prepare for their Committee of Special Education (CSE) meetings.

“How do you plan for someone if you don’t know them?” DeKoeyer said of the specialists in the CSE that may never actually meet and get to know the students they are working for.

As the Deaf Services Coordinator, DeKoeyer takes calls from clients who are looking for equipment for the deaf or hard of hearing. Sometimes she attends the first few ASL classes to help translate for the new students, but she doesn’t stay for all of them because, as she puts it, the best way to learn sign language is from deaf people.

Looking to the future, DeKoeyer said she sees places like FLIC becoming more important to help people better understand their rights, and the fast-developing equipment and technology aimed to assist people with disabilities. Boles has a similar vision for the center, he’s looking forward to FLIC continuing to be a positive influence on the community.

Throughout the year FLIC will be hosting events to celebrate 30 years in the community. Celebrating the past also means looking to the future with more education and more advocacy. Look out for more FLIC anniversary events as the year goes on.