AIM Independent Living Center, more commonly known as AIM, is a non-profit organization dedicated to people with disabilities, their families, friends, the businesses that serve them, and those with an interest in disabilities.
The Mission of AIM is to support an individual's ability to make independent, self-directing choices through education, advocacy, information and referral.
To meet its mission, AIM has seven values:
Respect:
AIM respects and supports the self-directed decisions
of consumers.
Collaboration:
AIM collaborates with all community stakeholders
to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities.
Team Focus: AIM uses the professional skills, talents, and personal
experiences of our expert co-workers and volunteers.
Consumer Driven: At the core of AIM's foundation is the
enduring belief that persons with disabilities have the right to choose the direction
that their lives will take.
Tenaciousness & Perserverance: AIM resolves to access the
richness of AIM's programmatic diversity and the assets of the greater community, without
relent, for the benefit of its consumers and their desire to make use of resources in gaining
independence.
Financial Independence: AIM is committed to consumers gaining the
highest level of self support, in accordance with their goals.
Least Restrictive Environment: AIM staunchly promotes and supports
consumer environments that provide the highest level of community integration.
As an independent living center, AIM provides four core services: peer counseling, information and referral, independent living skills, individual advocacy and systems advocacy. These core services support many programs and services under the AIM umbrella, some of which are featured in this website. AIM turns no-one from its doors. All disabilities are welcome. There is no economic or other qualifying requirement. The Board of Directors and the staff of AIM are predominantly individuals with disabilities; they act then as peers to our consumers and have a fuller understanding of what it means to live the life of an individual with disability.
AIM's funding sources include the federal government, New York State government, fee-for-service initiatives, private foundations, support from area businesses, and private donors.
Independent Living Centers (ILCs) do not adhere to the beliefs of traditional rehabilitation systems, which generally require people to fit into preconceived notions of what constitutes success. Instead, ILCs are bedrocked in the philosophy that individuals with disabilities have the right to make their own choices and have their own dreams; to take their own risks and experience failure and success. Following this belief, individuals with disabilities have the basic human rights to self-determination, to participate in, and contribute to, life in their communities, and to decide what independence means to them individually, and many times, as a group seeking accessibility to society. AIM's job is to support all choices, dreams, risks, and processes unconditionally and with no judgment of the person and with the highest level of confidentiality.
