CityAndStateNY.com
May 9, 2022
New York’s chief disability officer gets to work By Megan McGibney
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RMED WITH FUNDING provided in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $220 billion budget, the state’s first chief disability officer will begin addressing the most pressing needs of New Yorkers with disabilities. Advocates for people with disabilities said employment and housing issues in the aftermath of the pandemic would be the greatest priorities for Kimberly Hill, who has been serving as chief disability officer since she was appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in February. A report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli last year found that unemployment rates for people with disabilities in New York between April 2020 and March 2021 rose more quickly and remained higher during the pandemic than the overall unemployment rate. “Historically, when there are economic and other types of crises, people with disabilities often are the first to be terminated, last to be rehired,” said Jan Fisher, executive director of Nonprofit Westchester. “Employment inclusion is probably one, if not the first, of the issues that the disability community, across disabilities, is concerned about.” Todd Vaarwerk – the chief policy director of Western New York Independent Living, a nonprofit that serves the Genesee Region – said transportation to work alone can be especially challenging, since a person with disabilities who lives in a less populated area may have fewer travel options for getting to a job. He said he would like for Hill to explore these types of granular employment issues before looking into the data of which companies hire people with disabilities. Emily Papperman, an advocacy specialist at the Finger Lakes Independence Center in Ithaca, said Hill also should focus on helping people with disabilities clear hurdles that prevent them from landing jobs that align with their interests. “Folks with disabilities should be able to find work that they enjoy,” she said. “(Hill) should really have conversations about what
those barriers to employment are, and what folks with disabilities want to do. Instead of going, ‘OK, here’s a bunch of people with disabilities. Let’s just put them in a certain place.’ They should be needed and valued because they have skills. They wouldn’t apply for a job if they didn’t think they can do it.” Papperman said she has had clients who are unable to focus on getting a job because they also are not in a stable living situation. Marlene Zarfes, executive director of Westchester Residential Opportunities, which helps clients find affordable and accessible housing, said a lack of inventory and discrimination were among the challenges people with disabilities faced. For example, some housing providers won’t allow pets, even for tenants relying on emotional support animals, provide parking spots close to residential buildings or incorporate structural accommodations such as wider doorways for wheelchairs or lower kitchen counters. “Often people with disabilities are much more likely to be lower income,” Zarfes said. “They may be living on (Supplemental Security Income). They’ve got less money to look for something and, unfortunately, too many housing providers are saying, ‘We’re not going to take your SSI as payment or we’re not going to take your housing choice voucher as payment.’” Discrimination also happens to those needing an assisted living situation at residential developments, said Donna Long, co-chair of the Staten Island Disability Development Council’s advocacy committee. Her 44-year-old daughter is on the autism spectrum, and as Long and her husband age, they are finding it difficult to look after her. But finding a community residence or even getting one built has been a bigger hurdle than expected, Long said. She recalled recently how advocacy committee members attended a meeting at a local civic association about building such a home. Attendees strongly opposed the idea by wondering aloud who would be on staff, whether there would be parking issues and made excuses for why people with developmental disabilities shouldn’t live in the neighborhood, according to Long. “For agencies to have to go through that,” she said, “it’s like asking for permission. When we all move into a home, we
Advocates called on Kimberly Hill to focus on employment and housing after her first few months in office. don’t get that interrogation.” Most advocates also noted that Hill should prioritize the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Vaarwerk, however, warned that the needs of people with disabilities vary from region to region. “This is not one size fits all,” he said. “The more rural you go, the less services there are. Hill needs a whole state solution: urban, suburban and rural.” Hochul’s decision to appoint Hill filled the void advocates complained was left after the state Office of the Advocate for the Disabled folded in 2013. Aside from advocacy, that office was charged with implementing laws that prevented discrimination against people with disabilities. Its work was absorbed by the state Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities
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