Assembly Marks Disabilities Awareness
Day With Legislation

Passes Legislative Package to Increase Access to Voting Facilities, Housing and Transportation for People with Disabilities

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Chair, Assemblymember Peter Rivera, and Task Force on People With Disabilities Chair, Assemblymember Michele Titus announced Assembly passage of a comprehensive legislative package aimed at ensuring that men, women and children with disabilities receive opportunities for self-empowerment that all New Yorkers expect and deserve. Today's floor action was part of the Assembly's annual observance of Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day.

"We are proud as always to honor the work of the disability community in New York with this important legislative day," Silver (D-Manhattan) said. "This year, the Assembly Majority sought to address issues faced in their day-to-day lives by thousands of disabled residents, workers, commuters and consumers. It is our hope that the sensible legislation passed today will assist New Yorkers with disabilities with the challenges they face as they live, work and contribute to our state."

"I am truly honored to be co-sponsoring Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day as Chair of the Task Force, because it allows us to unite advocates, service providers, people with disabilities and their families and friends all in the name of improving integration, inclusion and independence," Titus (D-Queens) said. "I look forward to this event all year because I honestly cannot think of many other goals that are more important than the ones we are recognizing today."

"I can not overstate the significance of today's show of strength by the disabilities community," Rivera (D-Bronx) said. "From electoral reform to advocating for equal opportunity, all New Yorkers are the beneficiaries of the battles being fought by people with disabilities. I look forward to continuing to join hands in our work to improve the lives of all New Yorkers. "

In order to improve voter access, the Assembly package includes legislation requiring polling locations to comply with the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (A.244/Cahill). Another bill would require that wherever possible, polling places be located along public transportation routes (A.7103/Titus). The Assembly package also includes legislation requiring that Braille ballots be produced for blind or visually impaired voters who request them (A.7196/Koon).

In order to increase accessible and affordable housing, the Assembly package includes legislation that would establish the "Access-New York" registry, a detailed listing of accessible and adaptable housing for people with disabilities through the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (A.7107/Titus). To assist with the success of the new Nursing Facility Transition and Diversion waiver, the Assembly package includes legislation to authorize savings from the waiver to be reinvested in housing subsidies for certain participants (A.7109/Titus). Additional legislation included in the package would ensure the safety of people with disabilities living and working in high-rise buildings by requiring such structures to adopt emergency evacuation plans that specifically pertain to the disability community (A.7105/Titus).

Another measure would expand housing availability for people with disabilities, ensuring that housing programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance comply with Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (A.7138/Titus).

Other bills included in the Assembly package would:

• Require ATMs to use both audio and visual systems of relaying messages to customers (A.73/Weisenberg).

• Require both full and self service gas stations to provide full service to people with disabilities with a valid New York state handicapped parking permit at the self-service price, between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm (A.5954/Paulin).

• Clarify the scope of protections against discrimination on the basis of disability in services provided by public entities (A.6303/Paulin).

• Require public officers and bodies to provide interpreters for the hearing impaired at public hearings under certain conditions (A.7106/Titus).

• Require access aisles of handicapped parking spaces to be marked with a sign and diagonal stripes to further prevent people from parking in such spaces (A.7110/Titus).

• Require access aisles of handicapped accessible parking spaces to be at least eight feet wide to ensure that they are wide enough for people with disabilities to enter and exit their vehicles (A.7111/Titus).

• Require the Department of Health to promulgate rules and regulations concerning hard of hearing patients and others (A.7137/Titus).

• Simplify the application process for the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) program by providing for an income limit similar to that currently used for the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program (A.7244/Bing).

• Waive the state's sovereign immunity to liability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and certain other federal acts (A.7653/Lifton).

• Establish the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Disabled Riders Council. (A.10734/Kellner).

• Require counties to maintain a registry of residents with disabilities for the purpose of locating, evacuating and providing shelter for them during a disaster situation (A.958-A/Destito).