ABSTRACT
This chapter approaches the question of independence in terms that emerge from the concept of a right to flourish (Cohen, 1987). The right to flourish suggests there are avenues of “independence” that exist even in tiny bytes of time or in what may appear to be inconsequential arenas of choice. The concept incorporates and elaborates upon Collopy’s conceptual framework of autonomy (Collopy, 1988). In Collopy’s terms, autonomy (in one of its configurations) may be decisional or executional. That is, an individual may be capable of making decisions and giving direction even though carrying out the decision by the individual is impossible. Autonomy may be achieved and maintained by exercising control over agents or equipment to carry out decisions. Furthermore, this chapter uses the sense applied to the term by the independent living movement, which holds that autonomy is infused with the notion of achievement of individual consumer goals (see, for example, Johnson, 1987). If autonomy is seen in this light, disability and services must be redefined.
