IMPACT CIL

10/04/2026

Congratulations to Tiffany Breden on 20 Years of Dedicated Service with IMPACT CIL! Thank you for your commitment and the positive difference you make!

10/03/2026

October is World Blindness Awareness Month! This is a time to raise awareness about the challenges faced by individuals with blindness as well as their achievements.

During this time, you can celebrate the achievements of people with visual impairments and highlight advocacy efforts to improve accessibility.

Learn about resources at iMPACT CIL.

Image description: October is Blindness Awareness Month with a young man sitting holding a white cane.

10/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DtyjndCq1/?mibextid=wwXIfr

For a decade, wheelchair users on Medicare who wanted a titanium or carbon fiber frame have had to cover the entire cost themselves.

That's changing. On Sept. 30, the Senate passed the Choices for Increased Mobility Act (H.R. 1703). It cleared the House in July, and now it heads to the president's desk.

Once it becomes law, Medicare must create separate billing codes for carbon fiber and titanium frames by Jan. 1, 2028, so you pay only the difference for an ultralight frame. It costs taxpayers nothing.

This happened because of you. Advocates carried this bill into congressional offices at Roll on Capitol Hill, then kept the pressure on with messages to their senators.

Thank you to Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., for leading the way.

We'll keep you posted as the bill is signed and as Medicare builds the new codes. Follow along for updates. And in the meantime, join our Grassroots Advocacy Network to continue the momentum: https://unitedspinal.org/grassroots-advocacy-network/

09/29/2026

Another successful “See Like Me” resource fair at the St. Louis Zoo. keep an eye out for next year‘s event and join us there!

09/29/2026

We had such a fun Resource & Wellness Day Fair at Lewis & Clark Community College’s The Commons!

And yes… there they had GOAT YOGA! 🐐😂💚
Nothing like a little goat therapy to make wellness even more fun!

09/28/2026

Imagine you can't get out of your own front door.
Not because you're sick. Not because you're in a hospital. Just because there's no ramp, and nobody's built one yet.
That's the barrier a Center for Independent Living exists to remove — sometimes literally.
A CIL isn't a typical nonprofit. It doesn't serve people with disabilities. It's run by them. Federal law requires that at least 51% of staff and board members have disabilities themselves. The philosophy is simple and radical at the same time: people with disabilities are the best experts on their own needs. So they're the ones in charge.
IMPACT CIL in Alton has operated that way for over 40 years. Under the leadership of Cathy Contarino, they serve six Illinois counties — Madison, Macoupin, Jersey, Bond, Greene, and Calhoun — with everything from peer support to home modifications. Their ramp program, coordinated by Independent Living Specialist Tammy Conreux, provides exterior ramps, doorway expansions, and bathroom adaptations at no cost to qualifying homeowners and renters.
No cost. Because the point is independence. Not ability to pay.
IMPACT is one of several Centers for Independent Living AgeSmart is proud to work alongside across our region. They represent exactly what this network is supposed to do — make it possible for people to live where they choose, on their own terms.
Learn more at impactcil.org.

09/28/2026

IMPACT CIL is one of the participating vendors at Lewis & Clark Community College - The Commons - a Resource & Wellness Fair event tomorrow. Come and swing by! Time: 10 AM - 2 PM.

09/24/2026

The Disability Rights Movement lost a great advocate. Thank you Jim for all of your efforts in advocating for CILs and assuring equal access for all! We will miss you!

Link :
https://www.riverbender.com/obits/details/james-de-jong-fairview-heights-obituary-32996.cfm

RiverBender.com is THE source for information in the Illinois Riverbend area. Featuring news, obits, sports, free classifieds, a event calendar, video, photos, recipes, coupons and more!

09/20/2026

Powerful.

They left their wheelchairs at the bottom of the U.S. Capitol and crawled up the stone steps—because they wanted Congress to understand what inaccessible America felt like.
Washington, D.C.
March 12, 1990.
Disability rights activists gathered at the U.S. Capitol as Congress debated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
More than 1,000 people had marched from the White House.
Then roughly 60 protesters did something cameras couldn't ignore.
They left their wheelchairs and mobility aids behind.
And began crawling up the Capitol steps.
Hands pulled against the stone.
Knees moved forward.
Bodies climbed one step at a time.
Among them was 8-year-old Jennifer Keelan, who had cerebral palsy.
She climbed using her arms, slowly pulling herself upward.
When asked if she was tired, she reportedly answered:
“I’ll take all night if I have to.”
The image became one of the defining moments of the disability rights movement.
People weren't asking for sympathy.
They were demanding access.
The protest made an argument that required almost no explanation:
If citizens could not physically enter the buildings where laws were being made, equality on paper meant very little.
The Capitol Crawl became part of a much larger campaign for disability rights.
Just four months later, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
President George H. W. Bush signed it into law on July 26, 1990.
The ADA prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities and established broad accessibility requirements in public life.
The Capitol steps didn't magically change that day.
But the country was forced to look at them differently.
The protesters had shown America something impossible to forget.
They weren't asking the country to carry them.
They were demanding that the country stop building barriers in the first place.
Sometimes a movement changes history with speeches.
Sometimes it does it one painful step at a time.

09/17/2026

An Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) speech tablet is a portable electronic device running specialized software that translates touch, symbols, or text into spoken voice output for non-verbal individuals.

Using your state’s Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency is an excellent, highly effective route to get a non-verbal AAC speech tablet fully funded for work or post-secondary school. VR agencies specifically fund assistive technology if it is a necessary tool for you to get a job, keep a job, or complete training/school that leads to a job.

Lifestyle -
Communication can be easier wherever life takes you. The Speech App offers portable, easy-to-use support for everyday communication at home or on the go.
Learn more about free available equipment through IMPACT CIL’s ITAC Selection Center.

Contact IMPACT CIL Deaf Services and/or DeafBlind services for more information.
618-462-1411.