This guide is divided into 8 main parts – you can click on the buttons below to go to the different sections of the guide.
You can use the guide with people who support you (family, friends, social workers, advisers) to help you decide.
We have written this guide to support independent living for everyone.
This guide talks a lot about housing and support choices, but we want to explain an important idea called independent living.
Living independently does not mean doing everything yourself or not having support.
Independent living is about having choice and control over your life and having the same range of opportunities as a non-disabled person.
This is a right disabled people have campaigned for and that is in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
There is an easy read report on the UN Convention of Human Rights:
Inclusion Europe explain more about independent living:
The REACH standards on support for living explain more about how services can make sure how their work supports independent living