Why Choose a Center for Independent Living for Consumer Directed Services?

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 Consumer Directed Services through The Whole Person, a Center for Independent Living, can offer something different. CDS may be the reason you first connect with The Whole Person, but it does not have to be the only resource available to you.

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. 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?

That philosophy shapes a wide range of services at The Whole Person. During fiscal year 2024–25, The Whole Person served 2,030 consumers and provided 4,388 Independent Living services. Those services reach beyond personal assistance and include Independent Living Skills and Life Skills Training, Information & Referral, Peer Counseling, housing and home modification support, youth transition services, vocational services, advocacy, and more.

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, returning to work, addressing an accessibility problem at home, understanding an accommodation, or connecting 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.

The breadth of that work can be seen in The Whole Person’s FY 2024–25 numbers. During the year, the organization provided 2,405 Information & Referral services, 363 Independent Living Skills & Life Skills Training services, 278 Peer Counseling services, and 218 Housing, Home Modifications & Shelter services, alongside Personal Assistance Services and other supports.

That does not mean every CDS consumer will need multiple services. 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.

During fiscal year 2024–25, The Whole Person participated in 207 Community Activities & Engagement activities focused on community education and public information, collaboration and networking, outreach to underserved populations, and community and systems advocacy.

That work can involve transportation, housing, employment, communication access, accessibility, disability rights, and other issues that affect whether people with disabilities can participate fully in their communities. Sometimes independence means helping one person navigate a barrier. Other times, it means working to change the barrier itself.

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, 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.

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 makes the CIL model different is the broader organization surrounding that service. At The Whole Person, CDS exists within a nonprofit focused on Independent Living. The same philosophy that values your ability to direct 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.

CDS may be what brings you to The Whole Person today. Later, your question may have nothing to do with CDS at all. Having a relationship with a Center for Independent Living means there is already a place to start that conversation.