WHO WE ARE
Keeping the Promise of Independence in the Community!
Independence Care System (ICS) was founded in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Olmstead v. L.C., establishing the right of people with disabilities to reject institutional confinement. For more than 20 years, ICS has created innovative programs to help New Yorkers with disabilities live independently and remain healthy in the community, with the freedom to make choices about their lives.
About Our Members:
The average ICS member has 18 diagnoses and takes 10 medications. They are among the most vulnerable New Yorkers. Learn more.
How We Help:
Increasing our members’ health, mobility, and social connections vastly improves their lives. See what we do.
What People Say About ICS:
“Before ICS life was very difficult. I didn’t have fundamental support. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Read more.
The Problem:
Barriers to health and wellness faced by people with disabilities are pervasive, destructive, and poorly understood. Find out more.
“When I see a newly-referred MS patient, and she rolls into my office in a motorized wheelchair, clearly having suffered extensive disability due to this disease, I breathe a deep sigh of relief if she tells me she is an ICS member.”
Dr. Stephen Krieger, MD, directs the Neurology Residency Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
“If ICS didn’t exist, people with spinal cord injuries would lose out on essential services that allow them to work and be productive members of the community. They would not be able to find those services anywhere else because you can’t replicate ICS’s experience and knowledge.”
Daniel Tratt is the former President of the Greater New York Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association.