When someone begins looking into Consumer Directed Services, the immediate concern is usually straightforward: How can I get the help I need at home while keeping control over who provides that help?
That is exactly what Missouri’s Consumer Directed Services program is designed to support. Eligible participants can hire, train, schedule, and supervise their own personal care attendant rather than having an agency make those decisions for them.
But there is another question that may not come up until later: What happens when you need something CDS does not provide?
Maybe transportation becomes a challenge. Maybe you want to return to work. Your home may need accessibility modifications. You may have questions about your rights or simply want to connect with other people with disabilities.
That is where receiving Missouri Consumer Directed Services through a Center for Independent Living can offer something different.
CDS may be the reason you walked through the door. It does not have to be the only support available on the other side.
What Is a Center for Independent Living?
The name can sometimes be confusing. A Center for Independent Living, often called a CIL, is not a residential facility, assisted living community, or place where people with disabilities go to live.
It is a community-based organization created to help people with disabilities have greater choice, control, and opportunity in their own lives.
The Independent Living movement grew from the idea that people with disabilities should have a voice in the decisions that affect them. Independence does not mean never needing assistance. It means being able to make choices, direct the assistance you receive, participate in your community, and decide what you want your life to look like.
That philosophy has shaped The Whole Person since its founding in 1978. As a nonprofit Center for Independent Living, its work is not built around one diagnosis, service, or government program. It is built around helping people pursue greater independence across many parts of life.
Why Do CDS and Independent Living Fit Together?
There is a natural connection between Consumer Directed Services and the Independent Living philosophy because both place greater control in the hands of the individual.
With CDS, eligible consumers can recruit, hire, train, schedule, and supervise the person providing their personal care. The person receiving assistance has a meaningful role in deciding how that assistance fits into daily life.
Independent Living takes that same principle and applies it more broadly. Where do you want to live? Do you want to work? What barriers are getting in your way? What skills or resources could give you more choices?
The Whole Person has provided 2,434 Independent Living Skills services, helping people develop practical knowledge and skills that support greater independence. That can include navigating community resources, developing self-advocacy skills, managing aspects of daily life, or finding new approaches to something that has become difficult.
CDS and Independent Living are different services. But philosophically, they share something important:
Both begin with the person rather than the program.
CDS May Be Only One Part of Your Life
Having the right attendant and being able to direct your personal care can make an enormous difference in daily life. But personal assistance may be only one piece of someone’s independence.
A CDS consumer may later need help finding accessible transportation. Someone may want to return to work, address an accessibility problem at home, understand an accommodation, or connect with other people who share similar experiences.
This is where the broader mission of a Center for Independent Living becomes valuable.
The Whole Person offers Employment Services, Peer Support & Mentoring, Advocacy, Independent Living services, Information & Referral, and connections to other home and community resources.
That does not mean every CDS consumer needs multiple services. Many will not. The value is knowing that if another need does arise, you are already connected to an organization focused on the broader realities of living independently with a disability.
Independent Living Also Means Addressing Barriers
Centers for Independent Living do more than provide individual services. Part of their mission is identifying barriers affecting people with disabilities and working toward communities that are more accessible and inclusive.
The Whole Person has participated in 283 community activities and engagement efforts, reflecting work that includes community education, outreach, collaboration, public information, and advocacy.
Sometimes independence means helping one person navigate a barrier. Other times, the barrier itself needs to change.
Transportation, housing, employment, communication access, accessibility, and disability rights can all affect whether people are able to participate fully in their communities.
That broader work connects naturally with CDS. Consumer Directed Services gives individuals greater control over their personal assistance. Independent Living carries those same ideas of choice, access, and participation into the larger community.
What If You Don’t Know Where to Start?
People do not always know which program or service they need.
You may know only that getting to appointments has become difficult. Maybe you want to work again, something about your home is making daily life harder, or you have encountered a barrier and do not know what resources are available.
Sometimes the question is simply, “What are my options?”
Through Information & Referral and other Independent Living services, The Whole Person can help people identify possible resources and next steps. Sometimes the answer may be another service within The Whole Person. Other times, the appropriate resource may be somewhere else in the community.
You do not have to know the name of a program before asking the question. You can contact The Whole Person and begin by explaining what is happening.
Why Does This Matter for Someone Receiving CDS?
Consumer Directed Services has a specific purpose. It helps eligible Missourians with disabilities direct their personal care assistance. Choosing a Center for Independent Living does not change the requirements of CDS or the responsibilities that come with participating in the program.
What it can change is what surrounds it.
At The Whole Person, CDS exists within a nonprofit organization whose broader purpose is Independent Living. The philosophy that says you should have greater control over your personal care also recognizes the importance of having choices about where you live, whether you work, how you participate in your community, and what goals you pursue.
That is what makes Consumer Directed Services and the Center for Independent Living model such a natural fit.
Both begin with the person rather than the program.
CDS may be what brings you to The Whole Person today. Tomorrow’s question may have nothing to do with CDS at all.
CDS may be the reason you walked through the door. It does not have to be the only support available on the other side.
Learn More About Consumer Directed Services and Independent Living
Learn more about Missouri Consumer Directed Services at The Whole Person or read more about The Whole Person’s story and its Independent Living mission.
If you are not sure where to begin, contact The Whole Person and tell us what is going on.
The Whole Person
3710 Main Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
Phone: (816) 561-0304
