If you are disabled and living in Kansas City, chances are good you know all about The Whole Person. The nonprofit agency started in 1978 at a time when the rights of the disabled to hold jobs and gain access to public buildings were poorly protected.
Their early achievements included helping persuade the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority to equip new buses with wheelchair lifts and improve physical access to polling places.
For more than 30 years, The Whole Person has been a local leader in representing people with disabilities. As you’re about to see in this profile from producer Rich Miller, they’re also engaged in dozens of direct services that allow thousands of people with disabilities, all across the metro, to lead independent lifestyles.
The Whole Person provides a variety of community-based, consumer-driven services to people with disabilities to promote consumer control and choice of services, self-direction, empowerment, independence, self reliance, self help, self advocacy and integration into the community. Services provided by The Whole Person emphasizes peer relationships and peer role models. The Whole Person services are offered without charge to all persons with significant disabilities.
