Center for Disability Rights Applauds Governor Cuomo’s Proposals for Community Living

January 22, 2015 — In yesterday’s joint State of the State / Budget presentation, Governor Cuomo laid out an ambitious social agenda for New York State which included a number of proposals that will increase community integration for disabled people. The Center for Disability Rights (CDR) applauds the Governor’s initiatives, in particular those initiatives relating to independent living and the Community First Choice Option, as well as those relating to assisting the homeless, people affected by poverty, and people affected by violence. CDR will release a detailed analysis of the budget next week, but the following points are immediately worth noting.

• The Governor has re-affirmed the State’s commitment to Community First Choice (CFC). This is HUGE for the Disability Community, because it adds more federal funding to services and supports in home and community based settings. Since New York State is often a leader in social justice, this commitment will support community integration for people with disabilities not only in our own state, but across the country.
• The Budget allocates CFC funding specifically to accomplish the goals of the Governor’s Olmstead Plan, which include transitioning 10% of the long term nursing facility population into home and community based settings.
• The creation of a planning commission to create a statewide Office on Community Living, which will work to support community integration for disabled people and the elderly.
• The Governor has re-affirmed the State’s commitment to Employment First, which will work to solve the persistent unemployment of, under-employment of, and employer discrimination against, people with disabilities.
• Inclusion of children with disabilities in Charter Schools, giving youth with disabilities access to more school choices.
• $50 million to assist non-profits to become more accessible and more efficient, which will help to ensure that important social services are available to people with disabilities.
• $21 million in rural rental assistance to help low-income elderly and families in rural areas.
• $42 million in capital repairs for affordable housing projects, which may result in more affordable housing being accessible to disabled people.
• $12 million for community-based housing-related services for low and moderate income people.
• The creation of several initiatives to address the problem of inappropriate use of force by the police, which has affected people with disabilities.

Finally, CDR is thrilled that the Governor provided not one, but two accessible options for Deaf and hard of hearing people to watch the State of the State. This year, in response to CDR’s request, the State of the State was offered with captioning as well as American Sign Language. This is an important step toward including disabled people in the political life of New York State.

While we are truly happy about the support of the Governor on these initiatives, the work of advocating for full integration of the Disability Community is not over. CDR has requested an increase in state funding for the Independent Living Centers, which are flat-funded again in this year’s budget. In addition, although the Department of Labor’s (DOL) rule on attendant overtime and travel time was defeated in court, the DOL can still appeal. This year’s budget does not include any money to pay attendant overtime and travel time if the DOL appeals and wins. CDR is conducting a thorough analysis of the budget and will release a report discussing these points in detail next week.

For more information, please contact Adam Prizio at aprizio@cdrnys.org or 585-546-7510.