Our Services

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Professional and Dedicated
Service Providers

TLCIL offers a wide variety of services to individuals with disabilities as well as their family members. Our team of specialists understands the needs of individuals with disabilities and how to meet those needs because we have been through the same experiences ourselves.

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Please click on the boxes below to learn more about the services we provide.

Please note, we do not, as a matter of policy, refer our users to websites that are not in conformance with the Web Accessibility Guidelines Level AA and therefore not in compliance with the ADA.

Advocacy

The TLCIL works on behalf of individuals with disabilities to ensure that their rights are honored and respected.

Architectural Barrier Assessments

We provide consultations and information regarding architectural barriers at your home or business.

Benefits Acquisition / Advice

The TLCIL staff can assist individuals with applying for benefits, such as SSI, SSDI, food stamps, Medicaid, HUD, and public assistance.

Employment Seeking

The TLCIL works to help individuals with disabilities look for and successfully apply for all manners of work.

Independent Living Skills Training

TLCIL assists individuals with disabilities who wish to be more independent in their home or community.

Information & Referrals

If you have a disability-related question, we probably have the answer! If we don’t have the answer, we can tell you who does.

Loan Closet

TLCIL maintains a Loan Closest with various equipment that the disabled community may borrow.

Peer Mentoring

Peer mentoring provides the opportunity for people with disabilities to meet with staff that have personal experience with their concerns.

Transitional Services

The TLCIL can help individuals with disabilities set the stage and make the jump from dependent to independent living conditions.

Advocacy – Understand Your Rights

Advocacy is defined as “any action that speaks in favor of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports or defends, or pleads on behalf of others”.

TLCIL provides both Systems Advocacy and Individual Advocacy for the disability community.

Systems advocacy involves advocating for legislation and policy changes at the institutional level. Some examples include:

  • Making sure public parks are accessible
  • Working to make sure schools at all levels of education are accessible
  • Making sure public transit systems are accessible

 

Man writing at a desk

Individual advocacy is advocating on behalf of the individual consumer. Some examples include:

  • Accommodation requests
  • Discrimination complaints
  • Landlord disputes
  • Workplace disputes

If you feel you or someone you know is in need of advocacy, please let us know and we will be happy to provide our support.

Person in a wheelchair on a stone path

Architectural Barrier Assessments

TLCIL is happy to provide a consultation regarding architectural barriers at your home or business. We provide advice and technical information about what your business needs to do in order to come into compliance with the ADA. We can also provide advice and technical information regarding how to improve accessibility in your home.

The staff do not make alterations, modifications, etc. We can however assist you in locating builders or contractors and can assist you in obtaining written estimates for the work you need done.

We do not finance or pay for any alterations. We can assist you in exploring a variety of possible funding options that may or may not be available to you.

Benefits Aquisition / Advice

Understanding all of the benefits that you may be eligible for and then going through the application process can be a struggle. Not only are there complexities to the benefits programs that you know about, there are also benefits programs that you may not be aware of at all.

Our staff can explain to you all of the benefits programs that are available to people with disabilities, the eligibility requirements for these programs, and we can also help you apply. If you are denied benefits, we can also help you with the appeals process.

Unlike attorneys, we do not charge a fee for our services. Our services to you are free.

Person's hand signing document

Some things we can help you with:

 

  • SSI/SSDI Application Assistance
  • SSI/SSDI Appeals Assistance
  • SNAP, TANF, HEAP, Medicaid, Emergency Assistance
  • Advisement regarding resources and SSI/SSDI
  • Pool Trust Funds, etc. Referrals

 

 

  • Information on Medicaid and Medicare
  • Benefits for Children with Disabilities
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Acquiring a Safelink Phone
  • HUD/Section 8 Application Assistance
Two people shaking hands over documents

ACCES-VR-Malone District Office

209 West Main Street Suite 3
Malone, New York 12953

Phone: (518) 483-3530

Fax: (518) 483-3552

Employment Seeking

Gainful Employment: We are here to help individuals with disabilities who want to work get back to work. Our staff can help you determine what type of work might be best for, and then help you take steps to acquire that job. We believe that everyone has the ability to succeed and we will help you make that happen.

Some things we can help you with:

 

  • Referral to and from ACCES-VR
  • Resumes
  • Job Searching
  • Job Placement
  • Job Coaching
  • College Coaching
  • Interview Skills
  • Soft Skills Training

Independent Living Skills Training

Live Independently: Independent Living Skills help you make the most of your abilities and increase your self-reliance and self-confidence. Independent living skills are those skills necessary to live as independently as possible; by providing you with training and resources the skills training program can help you take control of your life in order to live independently. Such skills may include but are not limited to: housekeeping, cooking, time management, shopping, laundry, and budgeting.

Learning or re-learning how to be self-sufficient in today’s world is essential to the goal of living independently. As you might imagine the barriers can be overwhelming.

Man hiking with a pack on a trail

We can assist you in the following areas:

 

  • Building Self-esteem
  • Assertiveness
  • Social Skills
  • Money Management

 

 

  • Personal Image
  • Interview Techniques
  • Career Options
  • Small Personal Goals
Hand writing flow chart on glass in front of conference room

Information and Referrals

Do you have questions? If we don’t provide for a specific need we can help you find the agency or organization that does.

Information & Referral (I&R) services help people obtain relevant and accurate information to meet specific needs. I&Rs are available to anyone interested in securing disability related information or in accessing an appropriate resource referral.

Contact us with any questions you have!

We can direct you to services and providers related to such things as:

 

  • Area service agencies and their contact information
  • Area thrift stores
  • Housing information

Loan Closet

TLCIL has a Loan Closest with various equipment that you may borrow.

The equipment we have includes:

  • Wheelchairs
  • Temporary Ramps
  • Commodes
  • Walkers
  • Laptop Computers
  • Tablet Computers

Please contact us and let us know what you need. We are happy to deliver the items to you and pick them up when you are finished using them.

Young woman in wheelchair
One person helping another to the top of a mountain

Peer support values the expertise that comes from being a person with a disability.

Peer Mentoring

Understanding Support: Peer support services are delivered by individuals who have common life experiences with the people they are serving. Peers have “been there, done that.” People with disabilities – physical or intellectual disabilities, mental health and/or substance abuse issues – have a unique capacity to help each other based on a shared understanding of this experience. In self-help and mutual support, people offer this support, strength, and hope to their peers, which allows for personal growth, wellness promotion, and recovery.

Peers also provide assistance that promotes a sense of belonging within the community. The ability to contribute to and enjoy one’s community is key to recovery and well-being. Another critical component that peers provide is the development of self-efficacy through role modeling and assisting peers with ongoing recovery through mastery of experiences and finding meaning, purpose, and social connections in their lives.

Transitional Services

Let us help you: We are here to help facilitate the transition of individuals with disabilities from nursing homes and other institutions to home and community-based residences, as well as providing assistance to individuals with significant disabilities who are at risk of entering institutions so that the individuals can remain in the community. TLCIL also helps facilitate the transition of youths with significant disabilities who have completed their secondary education or otherwise left school, to post-secondary life.

Woman with hands raised in joy at open window

Areas of Transition:

 

  • From School to the Adult World
  • From Jail to the General Community
  • From Mental health Facilities to the General Community
  • From Substance Abuse Rehabs to the General Community
  • From the Hospital to Home
  • From Nursing Homes to Home

Adult Transition Services:

 

  • Determine what kind of residential options are needed and available
  • Landlord Lists and Introductions to Landlords
  • General Housing Searches
  • Assistance Filling out and Filing HUD Applications
  • Help Finding Cash Assistance for Deposits and Past Due Rent
  • Architectural Barrier Assessment
  • Advisement on Solutions to Barriers (Ramps, Contractors, Funding, Etc.)

Youth Transition Services:

 

  • Job preparedness
  • IEP rights and responsibilities
  • Independent living skills training

“I went in for help applying for SSDI, and even when lawyers couldn’t help me, the center was there for me and won my case!“

Cynthia T.

“TLCIL is the last, true peer advocate organization in the county. They improve the quality of life in Franklin County by bringing organizations and resources together, meeting individuals where they're at and working directly with them to help ensure good outcomes. They work to empower instead of enable, to raise up instead of push along, and to defend where needed.”

Jason M.

DB+

What Our Consumers Say About Us

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It's not about the work, it's about the people we work for.

Thank you to all of our consumers, their families and friends who have allowed us to be a part of their team and grow together.

“TLCIL has been a lifesaver for me. Mary, Susan, Kevin and staff were able to advocate for me when I was too ill to do it for myself. They made me aware of community resources I didn’t know existed or was even eligible for. Mary helped me through a devastating period of my life, from encouraging me to seek help for my mental illness and teaching me how to advocate for myself. This agency worked with me for two years, always with a friendly, knowledgeable attitude to help me win my disability case. TLCIL helped me get my life back and boosted my self-esteem in the process. I’ll never be able to express how grateful I am for all they’ve done for me especially during a pandemic when other services were halted. We brainstormed, problem solved and even laughed a little. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

C. Jock