 Our
Mission
The Mission of the North Country Center for Independence is
to empower people with disabilities to live more independent
and productive lives, and to promote beneficial policies and
community understanding of disability issues.
Our Philosophy
All people have value, should be treated with respect, and
have the right to make choices about their own lives.
People with disabilities are limited mainly by the barriers
they encounter in society.
If they have the knowledge, tools and freedom they need, all
people with disabilities can live independently, carry out the
responsibilities of citizenship and reach their full potential.
All people with disabilities can live and work in integrated,
non-institutional settings, if community-based support services
are available.
There is a continuing need to improve the community's awareness,
understanding, and accommodation of people with disabilities.
The best source of information and support available to people
with disabilities is the experience and example of others with
disabilities.
We succeeded in our mission when a person with a disability
no longer needs our help.
Our Values
We promote a growing sense of personal dignity and responsibility
in each person with a disability we serve. We respect their confidentiality
and honor their choices. We are honest, accurate and reliable
in our dealings with the people we serve.
We work consistently to remove barriers, in architecture,
policies and attitudes, that restrict people with disabilities'
choices and prevent them from achieving their full potential.
We provide services to all who seek them, regardless of the
degree or type of their disability, with the goal of assisting
them to achieve their own goals.
We support policies and programs that enable people with disabilities
to live and work in their own communities, along with their non-disabled
peers. We neither create nor support segregated, institutional
services.
We foster a spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding
between people with disabilities and the rest of the community.
Those of us who have direct experience of disabilities share
our unique perspectives with the people we serve and act as role
models of independent living.
The people we serve are responsible for achieving their own
goals. We encourage, assist and teach them. We do not do things
for them that they can do for themselves.
Adopted May 31, 2001
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