Our founding members demonstrated considerable resilience and determination to get a Centre for Independent Living (CIL) set up with limited resources.

 

 

In August 2007, Go4M, a campaigning group of Disabled people in Merton, proposed the idea of a local CIL to Merton Council. Merton Council organised and facillitated workshops with local Disabled people. In 2008, the feedback from the workshops lead to the creation of a Steering Group to progress the CIL's development.

 

The Steering Group worked with a Business Development Manager to host focus groups involving hundreds of local Disabled people and numerous local organisations.

The focus groups identified a number of pressing issues for local Disabled people and these were used to shape the development of Merton CIL. These issues included: the absence of a local user-led organisation, services which did not match the needs or aspirations of local Disabled people, inaccessible services, gaps in quality dadvice, advocacy and peer support for local Disabled people. 

 

The development process and engagement with local residents led to formal launch of the organisation in March 2011. Merton CIL was registered as a Limited Company in May 2011 and as a Charity in 2013.

Merton CIL’s first AGM was held in July 2012, with a range of new directors joining the board. The Merton CIL Manager (previous CEO, Lyla) was appointed in August 2012 and Merton CIL’s service delivery began in early 2013 with an outreach advice service. This was later refined with a home visiting focus and large range of casework and continues to be a highly valued core service. Advocacy, peer support and supported volunteering ran from September 2013.

 

Our development has been continually led by local Deaf & Disabled people, through annual formal consultations at ‘My Voice Matters’ events, a number of monitoring and evaluation tools, feedback and more. This work has allowed us to identify and discuss key issues and use them to refine our strategic goals.