Protection and Advocacy for Individuals With Disabilities

Programs that provide assistance for individuals with disabilities who are having difficulty understanding and/or obtaining the full benefits and services to which they are entitled by law. Included are federally mandated programs that are part of the formal protection and advocacy system which includes Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PADD), Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI), Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights (PAIR) and the Client Assistance Program (CAP); and independent organizations that provide the same types of services. Protection and advocacy programs provide legal representation and other advocacy services, under federal and state laws, for all people with disabilities and endeavor to ensure full access to inclusive educational programs, financial entitlements, health care, accessible housing and productive employment opportunities. The programs maintain a presence in facilities that care for people with disabilities where they monitor, investigate and attempt to remedy adverse conditions. CAP agencies (many of which are housed within protection and advocacy offices) provide information and assistance for individuals seeking or receiving vocational rehabilitation services under the Rehabilitation Act, including assistance in pursuing administrative, legal and other appropriate remedies.

  • Northeast Independent Living Program, Inc.

    NILP is a non-proft, consumer controlled Independent Living Center providing advocacy and services to people with disabilities in the Greater Merrimack Valley who wish to live as independently as possible in the community. It provides information and referral, peer counseling, independent living skills training, options counseling, Transition to Adulthood for Youth Program, and self-advocacy training….

  • Massachusetts Commission for the Blind

    This is the state agency that provides a wide range of social and rehabilitation services to legally blind Massachusetts residents of all ages. Programs and services include; vocational rehabilitation, independent living social services, asssitive technology, specialized services for specific populations (children, elders, those who are deaf/blind), rehabilitation teaching, orientation and mobility, vending facilities program, and…