PICL Interventions

The goal of the two PICL interventions is to create tools that service providers can use to help increase community participation among people with disabilities. With the “Home Usability Program” and “Out and About,” the RTC/PICL staff will more fully develop strategies that have proven effective in our previous research.

For the first two years of the Center, the Home Usability Program and Out and About will be refined and tested separately with two CILs: Summit Independent Living Center, Inc., in Missoula, Montana, and The Whole Person in Kansas City, Missouri. In the following years, the interventions will be integrated and tested nationally at other CILs.

Life Starts at Home

The Home Usability Program works with consumers to improve the usability of their homes. Community participation begins at home, so even small home improvements can give a person more time and energy for participating in the community. In this program, CIL staff and consumers work together to harness community and personal resources for making changes in their homes.

In addition to the environmental focus, Home Usability uses problem-solving and goal-setting to build participants’ self-determination and capacity for making home modifications. It also assists Centers for Independent Living (CILs), which provide advocacy and services for people with disabilities, to build a community-wide Home Usability Network to support their consumers who want to make home improvements. This program builds upon our previous work in Home Usability.

Life Expands in the Community

Out and About focuses on assisting consumers to set community participation goals and solve problems related to participation issues in the community. These problems may include barriers such as inaccessible transportation or lack of access to health care. Out and About also helps people pursue their individual goals by building social networks and using peer support.



This intervention incorporates two evidence-based programs from the RTC/IL’s previous work: Health Access for Independent Living and Living Well with a Disability.