Conclusions
and Recommendations
These results form a basis for a series of recommendations:
Arrangements
made by the Centers for Independent Living in urban areas should
emphasize the outreach aspects of providing services to American
Indians with disabilities.
The New Mexico
Statewide Independent Living Committee (SILC) should identify
a minimum of six target communities and Pueblo villages in rural
and reservation areas and hold at least one meeting a year in
each of these communities.
The Centers
for Independent Living, New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
and the Navajo Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services need to collaborate on providing services to American
Indian consumers. Information could be given to grassroots consumers
on the reservation through the local radio station, tribal newspapers,
culturally developed posters or setting up booths at fairs, tribal
events or rodeos.
The New Mexico
Technology Access Program should teach American Indian consumers
in northwestern New Mexico to promote systematic change, legislation,
policies, and practices.
Since the
majority of the respondents did not know about many of the services
that were available, the SILC plan should include dissemination
of information about independent living services, designed for
American Indian consumers, to Indian Health Service and Social
Security Administration offices in American Indian communities.
Independent
living counselors and SILC members need to be aware that the members
of different tribal cultures, even if they reside in the same
county, may have different basic needs.
The three
most common disabilities are: blindness (28%), hearing impairment
(22%), and hypertension (22%).
Services needed but not received in the past year include: help
with services (66%), help with food (59%), dental care (53%),
help with clothing (53%), and help with housing (50%).
Funding
for AIRRTC projects and dissemination materials are awarded by the
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR),
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS),
U.S. Department of Education (DOE), grant number H133B3006. The
contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the
grantee, and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect
the position or policy of NIDRR, OSERS, or DOE.
Fact sheet
no. 3 compiled and edited by Priscilla Lansing Sanderson, Julie
Anna Clay, James Stephens, and Libby Reeg. The full technical report,
Independent Living Outcomes for American Indians with Disabilities:
A Needs Assessment of American Indians with Disabilities in Northwestern
New Mexico (Cilbola, San Juan, and McKinley Counties), is available
from the American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center.
To request AIRRTC reports and AIRRTC publication catalog, contact
the AIRRTC Training and Dissemination Secretary at (520) 523-7054,
FAX (520) 523-9127, or TTY (520) 523-1695.
This document
is available in alternate formats upon request by contacting the
AIRRTC Training and Dissemination Secretary at (520) 523-7054, FAX
(520) 523-9127, or TTY (520) 523-1695. AIRRTC is located at the
Institute for Human Development, an Arizona University Affiliated
Program at Northern Arizona University.
ISBN: 1-930563-01-9
NAU is an
Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Institute NAU Creative Communications/G39840/1M/03-01
