Independent Living Specialist

Employment Type:Part-Time
Openings Available:Two
Expected

Schedule:

Approximately 24 hours per week
Pay Range:$14.00–$16.00 per hour
Location:Macon, Georgia
Work Setting:On-site at the Disability Connections Main Office

Disability Connections is seeking dependable, resourceful, and compassionate Part-Time Independent Living Specialists to serve as frontline Information and Resource Referral professionals.

This position connects people with disabilities, families, professionals, and community partners with accurate and useful information about disability-related services, programs, benefits, and community resources.

This is more than answering telephone calls. You will listen carefully, identify what the person is requesting, research available options, explain information clearly, document the interaction, and support the person in deciding what steps they want to take.

Information and Resource Referral—often called I&R—is one of the federally required core services provided by Centers for Independent Living.

This is a professional communication, resource-navigation, documentation, and Independent Living position.

Independent Living Specialists do not provide:

• Personal care or attendant services

• Bathing, dressing, toileting, or feeding assistance

• Medication administration

• Nursing or medical care

• Housekeeping or routine household assistance

• Lifting or transferring individuals

• Residential supervision or shift-based caregiving

Instead of performing tasks for people, our staff work alongside people with disabilities as they identify options, make informed choices, advocate for themselves, and direct their own lives.

Disability Connections is a disability-led Center for Independent Living serving people of all ages and disability types throughout Middle Georgia.

Our work is grounded in consumer control, accessibility, self-determination, informed choice, respect, and the dignity of risk. We believe people with disabilities are the experts on their own lives and should direct their goals, services, choices, and personal information.

Our workplace is active, collaborative, and mission-driven. Staff members work across programs and office locations while supporting one another and sharing knowledge.

• Respond professionally and respectfully to telephone calls, emails, online inquiries, and visitors seeking disability-related information or resources.

• Listen carefully and ask appropriate questions to understand what the person is requesting.

• Provide accurate and understandable information about community resources, services, benefits, and opportunities.

• Research unfamiliar questions rather than guessing or providing unverified information.

• Present available options without directing or pressuring a person’s decision.

• Support people in determining their own next steps.

• Provide information in plain language and accessible formats when needed.

• Complete appropriate follow-up when additional research or communication is required.

Requests may involve:

• Durable medical equipment

• Home modifications

• Accessible or affordable housing

• Transportation

• Disability benefits and benefits-planning resources

• Medicaid and community-based waiver programs

• Assistive technology

• Employment and vocational rehabilitation

• Independent Living skills

• Youth transition

• Nursing-home transition and institutional diversion

• Peer support and advocacy

• Emergency and basic-needs resources

• Other disability-related services and community supports

• Document inquiries, resources provided, referrals, follow-up needs, and outcomes…