APRIL's Position on Guardianship
The Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) strongly opposes guardianship as it contradicts what our disability-led movement believes: the Independent Living movement. As an institution, guardianship began in 1935 when no opportunities were available for individuals with disabilities. Since then, protections have been put in place to protect the rights of people with disabilities. As amended, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 affirms that Independent Living programs call for respecting an individual's dignity, responsibility, and self-determination, which guardianships prohibit. In the United States, the need for guardianship develops from implicit bias regarding people with disabilities.APRIL believes that all efforts should protect the liberty, self-determination, and autonomy of people with disabilities while maximizing their independence. The following assumptions should always be acknowledged:
- All people with disabilities should be presumed to have the capacity to live as they wish and accept or refuse support, assistance, or protection as long as they do not harm others.
- All people with disabilities should be able to be informed about and, to the best of their ability, participate in managing their affairs.
- A person with a disability's values, beliefs, wishes, and traditions should be upheld.
- How a person with a disability communicates with others is not grounds for deciding that the adult is incapable of decision-making.
- People with disabilities should be allowed to participate to the maximum extent possible in their own decisions, including the dignity of risk like everyone else. Guardianship has evolved into a profitable enterprise full of abuse, neglect, and exploitation, often used to isolate, institutionalize, and limit individuals' freedom while those serving as guardians benefit off the backs of disabled people.
- Most guardianships can be mitigated by CIL services.
To read the full letter written and sent to the Senate Special Committee on Aging please click the links below.