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February 02, 2006
Lion King and Tommy Music Director Stabbed in New York City
Joseph Church--a Broadway musical director of The Lion King and The Who's Tommy--was the victim of a random stabbing Feb. 1 near New York City's Washington Square Park.
Church was en route to New York University's Steinhardt School, where he serves as a professor, when the attack occured. According to reports, police say Mark Davila stabbed Dr. Church in the chest several times with a screw driver before fleeing the scene into the nearby park.
Davila--who was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon--had a previous criminal record that included robbery, drug possession and possession of a weapon. His mother told the New York Daily News that her son had recently lost his job at a facility that helps the disabled and ended a relationship with the mother of his three-year-old daughter.
Before It Had a Name: Talking with Joyce Wallace, the first doctor to study AIDS in women
Dr. Joyce Wallace says she was the first person--in the world--to study AIDS in women. At her Greenwich Village clinic in early 1981, she found two cases of Karposi's Sarcoma, a disease estimated to appear just once in 10 million people per year. AIDS did not yet have a name, but Joyce saw in the two cases hints of an epidemic, and jumped in her car with a bag of condoms and syringes. Over the next twenty years, most of them with New York City prostitutes, Joyce forged a new and gritty front in the study of AIDS. Burnt out by death, she now works with developmentally disabled adults.
February 03, 2006
Medicaid Update Impacts on Community Based Care
February 1, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the FY 06 Budget Reconciliation Bill by a vote of 216 to 214.
The measure, as passed, makes significant changes to Medicaid:
- The Budget Reconciliation Conference Report allows states the option to force many low-income Medicaid recipients, with and without disabilities, to pay more for their care. If these individuals cannot shoulder the costs, states would be permitted to deny beneficiaries access to necessary medical care. Studies have found that when people cannot afford cost-sharing, they will forego necessary care, resulting in adverse health outcomes. These provisions are bad public health policy and inconsistent with valuing the lives of persons with disabilities.
- Many analysts report that due to drafting errors, the bill has no limits on cost sharing for Medicaid beneficiaries below 100 percent of the federal poverty level (approximately $800 per month for an individual). This means that SSI beneficiaries with disabilities could be required to pay any level of cost sharing their Governor chooses.
- The reconciliation package exacerbates the institutional bias through its application of premiums on Medicaid beneficiaries. Persons with disabilities living in the community can be charged substantial premiums while those in institutions are exempt. This is inconsistent with efforts to eliminate the institutional bias in Medicaid under President Bush's New Freedom Initiative.
- Unlike current Medicaid law, cost sharing is enforceable under this bill, meaning that the provision of a Medicaid service may be conditioned on the receipt of the co-pay. For example, a pharmacist can refuse to dispense a prescription drug if the beneficiary fails to pay the co-pay. In practice, this means a person could be forced into an institutional setting because he or she is denied medicines needed to remain in the community due to the inability to meet cost-sharing obligations.
WHAT DOES SECTION 6086 DO?
The bill creates a new state option that purports to expand access to
community services for Medicaid beneficiaries with income up to 150% of the poverty level without requiring individuals to need an institutional level of care. However, it allows for enrollment caps and waiting lists that could actually limit access to services individuals need to maintain their independence; it renders obsolete Medicaid's existing protections that ensure personal care, rehabilitation and certain other optional services are provided to all Medicaid beneficiaries who need them; it aggravates the already untenable institutional bias in Medicaid; and it would operate without the additional oversight and protections for consumers afforded by waivers under current law.
Section 6086 is regressive for the following reasons:
- Caps Eligibility and Permits Waiting Lists. Section 6068 grants states new authority to cap a state plan service and maintain waiting lists - a dangerous precedent that weakens Medicaid's
protections without even the minimal federal oversight provided through waivers. - Weakens Existing Benefit Protections. This bill effectively removes the existing entitlement to personal care (currently offered in 30 states plus DC) and rehabilitation services (currently offered in 46 states plus DC) for individuals with disabilities by permitting states to shift the delivery of personal care and rehabilitation services to the new state option. The new option would permit enrollment caps and allow states to provide community services only in certain parts of a state.
- Increases Medicaid's Institutional Bias. Section 6086 does nothing to increase eligibility for Medicaid, but instead gives states expanded tools for limiting access to cost-effective community services. Further, it permits stricter income and resource eligibility rules for community services than for institutional services. Since this does nothing to reduce the need for long-term services it could only lead to more people being forced into costly institutions.
- No Meaningful Grandfathering Provision. Although the Senate passed bill would have permitted states to tighten eligibility for new enrollees, but maintain eligibility for beneficiaries already receiving services if participation was greater than the state expected, the Senate bill did not permit enrollment caps. The Senate bill's so-called adjustment authority was intended as an explicit alternative to enrollment caps as a way for states to manage their financial risk. The conference report does not include this policy. Section 6086 permits enrollment caps and permits states to grandfather recipients for only 12 months, negating any benefit of this new policy approach.
- Does Nothing to Help States Comply with Olmstead. More than six years ago, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in the case of Olmstead v. L.C. that interpreted a state's obligations under Medicaid to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Court found that unjustified isolation in nursing homes was illegal discrimination and called for states to provide access to community services when appropriate and when it can be reasonably accommodated to help move people out of institutions. If states maintain waiting lists, they are still supposed to move at a "reasonable pace". The latest data show that in some states, people with disabilities have to wait two or more years to receive the community services they need. Section 6086 does nothing to shorten the length of the waiting period for services.
Five First Steps At The City Council
Advocates for the disabled are outraged that a bill to make New York City's taxi fleet accessible to those who use wheelchairs--currently, less than one percent of the taxis are--has not even made it to the floor for a vote.
Veterans conquer mountain, disabilities
[Windham Mountain]'s Adaptive Sports Foundation, Disabled Sports USA and the national Wounded Warrior Project sponsored the trips. They arranged special equipment and skiing and snowboarding lessons. The troops and their families will also snow tube, and members of the New York City Fire Department will transport them, even to evening ski parties.
Satirical comedy premieres tonight
A comedy about bureaucracy?
Such a play might sound far fetched. But that's exactly the theme of "Archangels Don't Play Pinball," a satiric play that will be performed beginning tonight by the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School's Repertory Theatre Company.
The play by Italian Nobel laureate Dario Fo is in the style of commedia dell'arte, following the protagonist Lanky through a farcical adventure as he travels to Washington, D.C., to get his pension for being a disabled veteran. Commedia dell'arte is Italian comedy of the 16th through 18th centuries improvised from standard situations with stock characters like the buffoon or the corrupt official.
...In addition, the company will perform the play on Feb. 14 at the Brooklyn Lyceum in New York City in keeping with the tradition of repertory companies going on tour.
February 04, 2006
State of the Art Pedestrian Signal for Visually Impaired Staten Islanders
New York City Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall and Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro have unveiled a new Accessible Pedestrian Signal (APS) on the corner of Castleton and Brighton Avenues in Staten Island. The new signal uses the latest in APS technology and can be programmed to play audible messages informing visually impaired users when the "walk" message is displayed for the specific street they are waiting to cross.
February 08, 2006
Achilles helps athletes stay active
The Achilles Track Club was founded in New York City in 1983 by Dick Traum, an above-the-knee amputee. On his board of directors is Trisha Meili, the Central Park jogger who was attacked, beaten and left for dead in 1989.
She survived and as part of her rehab got involved with the Achilles Track Club.
Meili wrote a book, "I am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility".
Budget cuts outdo adds for NY
President George W. Bush's $2.77 trillion budget proposal ups overall spending slightly to account for the war on terror, while an array of programs used by scores of middle- and working-class New Yorkers suffers significant cuts.
The president's spending plan, which projects a record $423 billion deficit, was roundly criticized by local lawmakers and social service providers because the proposed cuts would cripple a wide swath of programs from student loans to law enforcement efforts to health care services for the elderly and disabled.
Breaking Down Barriers: Disability rights pioneer to speak
"It's hard to think there'd be a [disability rights] movement without [Ms. Heumann]," said Katherine Seelman, associate dean for disability programs at Pitt's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, co-sponsor of the lecture.
Born in Philadelphia in 1947 and raised in Brooklyn, Ms. Heumann contracted polio when she was 18 months old.
Like many disabled children of that time, she was denied access to public school, and her parents had to fight for her admission. As a young college graduate, she encountered another round of discrimination when she sought a teaching position in the New York Public Schools; she successfully sued the New York Board of Education.
New York Health Care Industry Says It Faces $1.2 Billion in Cutbacks Under Bush Plan
The Medicare cutbacks that President Bush proposed this week would eventually wring $1.2 billion a year from New York's troubled health care industry, cuts that would come as the state is already losing hospitals to wrenching changes in health care, industry officials said on Tuesday.
Health care spending is one of the driving engines of the economy of New York, which has some of the nation's premier teaching hospitals. But as Medicare and Medicaid costs have risen in recent years, federal and state officials have tried to rein in these costs, putting pressure on the local health care industry and helping result in the closings of several smaller hospitals.
Representatives of New York's health care industry say that the latest cutbacks, proposed in the budget that the president sent Congress on Monday, would force hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers to reduce services for elderly and disabled residents of the state.
February 09, 2006
Skagit Powersports donates to MS-Express
Scheduled to depart in June, Magno and three-legged assistance dog Katie will travel 4,300 miles along the northern United States, making keynote stops in cities along the route and ending at Yankee Stadium in New York City. The goal of the MS Express is to raise awareness for handicapped accessibility issues on behalf of the City of Anacortes and to raise $1 million for Multiple Sclerosis.
The Spirit of Hope Foundation devotes its resources to education and advocacy for multiple sclerosis and to accessibility and quality of life issues for the disabled.
Disabled, and Shut Out at the Gym
Getting fit might soon become easier for the 49.7 million Americans who a 2000 Census Bureau estimate said are blind, in wheelchairs or otherwise physically or mentally impaired. New equipment is being designed for them. A handful of new gyms are going out of their way to assist them with wheelchair-accessible equipment.
...No chain of gyms does a lot to accommodate the disabled, said Amy E. Rauworth, an associate director of the Center on Physical Activity and Disability, adding that it is not because of discrimination but because the gyms are unaware of the issues. Still, some gyms are making small efforts. Chains like Crunch, New York Sports Club and 24 Hour Fitness say they welcome guide dogs and allow aides in for free. Many branches of Bally Total Fitness have arm cycles, which let members break a sweat without using their legs, and machines with removable seats.
...A few gyms try to attract disabled members. Asphalt Green has a 50-meter pool with wheelchair lifts, and a seven-foot-deep exercise pool with a floor that rises to ground level and then lowers the user into water. Twice a week, Kenny Diaz, 39, who has cerebral palsy, lifts weights on his own and swims with an aide's help in the pool. People think the "disabled can't do anything," he said. "They're wrong."
N.Y. Senators, Hospitals, Protest Budget
"This budget reforms Medicare without reducing benefits to seniors or the disabled," a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, Alex Conant, said. "The proposal focuses most of the anticipated savings from Medicare by making sure doctors and hospitals pass on to American taxpayers the savings they enjoy from greater productivity and efficiency."
Yet Mr. Bush's plan to limit growth in the program, which now accounts for more than 10% of the entire federal budget, was met with grim pronouncements by Senators Schumer and Clinton. Hours after Mr. Bush released the budget, Mr. Schumer issued an analysis that zeroed in on health care spending. Mr. Schumer said the Medicare proposal endangers access to health care by seniors.
February 11, 2006
Change in attitudes toward disabled people called for
Heumann began taking major steps toward rights for people with disabilities in college; she organized rallies and protests with other students with disabilities. When Heumann got out of school and was denied her New York teaching license because the board did not believe she could get herself or her students out of the building in case of a fire, she took the case to court.
After the judge suggested that New York City’s Board of Education rethink its decision, Heumann became the first person in a wheelchair to teach in New York City.
Autistic Boy Neglected and Mocked
A Staten Island school bus driver and matron are under investigation after allegedly being caught on audio tape alternately taunting and ignoring a disabled 7-year-old boy they were transporting, the Advance has learned.
Audiotape Provides Details of Bus Abuse
A muffled audiotape released to the media yesterday provided a hint of the events that transpired Sept. 30 aboard the bus taking a severely disabled child from his Huguenot home to school in Brooklyn.
February 12, 2006
Tutor Program Offered by Law Is Going Unused
Some of the latest available data gives a clear picture that some of the country's vulnerable students are among those not being served: in New York City, for instance, about 9,000 of approximately 22,000 children with disabilities who were eligible for tutoring enrolled for help last year. Among students with limited English, about half the 40,000 eligible were being tutored.
Msgr. John T. Fagan, 79, Leader of Major Social Service Agency, Dies
Msgr. John T. Fagan, who retired in 2001 as director of Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York, one of the largest social service agencies in the country, died on Thursday at his home in Wading River, N.Y. He was 79.
February 14, 2006
Some mentally disabled learn dating skills
Zachary Lewis is looking for a date with a "positive attitude." Josh Wolf would like to spend time with someone "polite and friendly." Zaheer Malik wants a girlfriend who is "not too serious and not too silly, but in between."
All three are learning about dating and relationships as part of "You and I," a program for young adults who are retarded or autistic or have other mental disabilities.
..."You and I" is aimed at twenty-somethings who live with their parents in New York City and "are falling through the cracks. ... There's just no social outlet for them at all," says Fyne, who started her first group in 1999.
..."You and I" is run by the YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities Network, which serves more than 20,000 people. The free program is funded by a state grant.
Getting a break on cost of home: Affordable housing demand skyrocketing
So, how will the winners in the affordable housing sweepstakes at 521 W. 42nd St. be chosen? The same way they're picked for housing financed through city programs: through a lottery process, in this case run by Atlantic Development Group and overseen by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
As part of that process, 50% of units are awarded to applicants from within the area covered by the building's community board--which is Manhattan's Community Board 4. An additional 5% preference goes to municipal workers and another 5% preference is given to the disabled, Coleman reported.
[Editor's note: For more information on affordable housing, see our Housing and Independent Living section.)
Rising Playwright John Belluso Is Dead at 36
John Belluso, a rising playwright whose works were staged with increasing frequency in recent seasons, died Feb. 10, his agent Patrick Herold said. He was found in his hotel room in New York City. The cause of death was not immediately known. He was 36.
Mr. Belluso was confined to a wheelchair, and many of his plays featured a disabled character. In Henry Flamethrowa, seen Off-Broadway at Studio Dante in May 2005, a teenager reveals his plans to disconnect his comatose younger sister Lilja from her breathing ventilator and allow her to die. Pyretown, staged by the Keen Company Off-Broadway in January 2005, concerned an unlikely love affair between a young man in a wheelchair and a middle-aged single mom.
February 16, 2006
Bush Proposes Housing Cuts: 2007 Budget to Reduce Funding For Homes of Disabled, Seniors
President George W. Bush issued his budget for the 2007 fiscal year last week, prompting angry reactions from New York politicians who say it cuts too heavily into vital housing services.
Under the president's proposal, Community Development Block Grants, a federal program which provides housing funds for state governments, entitlement communities, and loan guarantees, would be cut by $736 million, or 20 percent. Funding for housing for the elderly would drop $189 million, or 26 percent, while funding for housing for persons with disabilities would be cut in half. Public housing would be slashed overall by eight percent, a total of $459 million.
February 17, 2006
Bill would require more training for transporting students
In the wake of alleged abuse and neglect of a disabled Huguenot youngster by a school bus driver and matron, state lawmakers today are set to unveil legislation that would require better training for the people who transport students.
The measure is named P.J.'s Law, after the 7-year-old P.J. Rossi, who is severely autistic. In the incident on Sept. 30, two Atlantic Express employees allegedly taunted him and ignored him as he wailed and beat his head against the side of the bus.
The legislation seeks to "address school bus staffs' ignorance of disabilities [affecting] children and requires individuals to report suspected child abuse," said state Sen. Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn), who is co-sponsoring the bill.
Cabby bias is flagging
New York cabbies are increasingly color-blind, new city statistics show.
Just 3% of hacks failed to stop last year for a person of color or a disabled passenger, or rejected a passenger based on destination, according to results from hundreds of undercover tests carried out by officers from the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Manhattan priest is 'ordained to the world, not just to the deaf'
The Rev. Christine Selfe is the vicar for St. Ann's Church for the Deaf in Manhattan, a calling she has enjoyed "one year exactly on January 5," she smiled. "It's been a wonderful year."
February 19, 2006
Move aggressively
The more solid the numbers, the more clarity: When it comes to the dismal high school graduation rates, the fault, dear students, lies not in you but in your parents' generation.
For decades, New York's adults have tolerated inequity in education funding and priorities. That has bestowed on students who happened to be born white and nondisabled, and living in wealthier school districts, a far better shot at success in life than their nonwhite and disabled peers.
And adults continue to do so. We tolerate a governor who successfully stonewalled for most his 12-year tenure resolution of a court challenge to fairly fund New York City schools. We tolerate urban school districts across the state with such inferior facilities that teachers themselves refuse to enter them. Election after election we tolerate lawmakers who do little about it.
February 20, 2006
Dates Announced for 2006 Abilities Expos
"With a brand new team in place in our new offices in New York City, we are excited to bring fresh ideas and a renewed energy to all of the Abilities Expos throughout the country," said Veronica Gonnello, show manager of the Abilities Expo events. "Only at Abilities Expo are people with disabilities able to spend hours on the exhibit floor, testing and comparing products and services offered by state of the art exhibitors."
For 2006, several exciting sports demonstrations are being planned that are always popular among attendees, including martial arts, basketball, hockey, football, quad rugby, and wheelchair fencing. The Expo's also host concerts and performance art, as well as sculptures and paintings created by artists with a disability.
Abilities Expo/New York Metro: April 21-23 at the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison, NJ.
February 21, 2006
Manhattan Borough President Proposes 311 Medicare Help Plan
In an effort to help seniors better understand the new Medicare prescription plan Manhattan's Borough President wants the city to create a special 311 response team.
Many seniors and disabled people who use the plan - which took effect last month - say it's too complicated. Scott Stringer says the city can fix that, and he's taking a cue from Maryland.
City thwarts high-rise escape device
The team came up with a potentially lifesaving solution: a $1 million escape device with expandable cabins that could be lowered like lifeboats outside a high-rise in distress. A prototype tested in Tel Aviv won praise from politicians, public safety experts and the landlord of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper who offered his property for a pilot program.
That was before Shimshoni received a discouraging letter dated Feb. 6 from the city's Office of Emergency Management. In short, he was told the project was unworthy of the necessary building permits.
The decision was a blow to Shimshoni's company, Escape Rescue Systems. But the CEO--a 55-year-old former Israeli military officer with a public policy doctorate from Princeton University--insists it wasn't fatal.
...Shimshoni also has the backing of handicapped advocacy groups which believe his system would improve the chances of survival for disabled people. And he's received letters of endorsement from city council members, including Yvette Clarke, who chairs the council committee on fire services and checked out the prototype on a trip to Israel.
Disabled preschoolers will now be bused by city's Ed. Dept.
A year after eight developmentally disabled children were pulled out of a burning bus on their way to school, the city announced its Department of Education would assume the job of busing children in pre-kindergarten and early intervention programs.
February 23, 2006
Raucous debate over facility for disabled
An evenly divided, standing-room-only crowd filled Community Board 3's Rossville office for a public hearing about the plan to house six women with mild to moderate mental retardation, which may include disabilities like autism and Down syndrome.
A vote for status quo: NY scraps updating voting machines, now faces scramble to save federal funds at risk after deadline passes
...area residents who vote in the Sept. 12 primary and Nov. 7 general elections will make their selections on the same antique lever machines that their great grandparents may have used, officials said. The lever technology was first demonstrated in 1892 in Lockport.
"In all likelihood, in the large jurisdictions of the state, we will still see lever voting machines in 2006 but this probably will be the last time," said Douglas A. Kellner, co-chairman of the elections board.
In a related move, the board plans in coming weeks to lay out options to the counties on how to ensure that the disabled can cast their ballots without asking for help, he said. With the old voting machines, some levers are beyond the reach of people in wheelchairs and the blind cannot read the ballot.
Big Queasy in Coney: Pols seek aid to shore up coastal areas
They also said the city's Office of Emergency Management needs to work harder to warn New Yorkers of hurricane dangers, keep track of the elderly and disabled and help them evacuate from low-lying areas if a hurricane is poised to strike.
Surcharge plan fuels tenant rally
Scott said the proposed fuel surcharge would help "bridge the gap" between the actual expense increase and the amount budgeted for in the last budget rent determination. Every three months, management will review operating costs to assess whether the surcharge could be lowered or eliminated, Scott said.
He added that elderly and disabled renters could be eligible for surcharge exemptions, "so it's not as dire as it sounds."
February 24, 2006
Kushner, Eustis, Shinn to Speak at Feb. 28 John Belluso Memorial
There will also be a presentation of scenes from Belluso's past work including The Body of Bourne featuring Clark Middleton; Pyretown, which was seen Off-Broadway in 2005; and Gretty Good Time featuring Anita Hollander. All three will be directed by Lisa Peterson.
The memorial will be held at 7 PM Feb. 27 at the Public Theater. It will be open to the general public.
February 25, 2006
Group home accidents leave many questions
The slaying is among the most recent of several deaths and violent incidents at group homes for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled on Long Island and in New York City. While advocates for the population cringe at potential stereotyping of the residents stemming from these occurrences, others wonder if more effective supervision--higher numbers of better trained staffers--is needed.
Dinowitz Says Pinnacle Harasses His Constituents
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is speaking out against the controversial practices of the Pinnacle Group after he discovered the management company aggressively went after two vulnerable tenants in his district.
"The stories are just horrible," said Dinowitz about the incidents, which involve Riverdale and Norwood residents and properties. "They're trying to enrich themselves off of the misery of other people."
In the first case, Pinnacle served a 90-year-old man with court papers for back rent due on his Henry Hudson Parkway apartment, according to Terry Colon, a staffer working on the cases. Colon found that the man had actually overpaid Pinnacle by more than $1,000. The company failed to acknowledge that they received funds from the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption program, which subsidizes the rents of low-income seniors living in regulated apartments.
"He was double dipping," said Dinowitz, referring to Joel Wiener, who heads Pinnacle.
Colon is also trying to assist a tenant at 215 E. Gun Hill Road who was hit by a quick succession of rent increases last year. The hikes were retroactive charges allowed under the stabilization program, but they aren't usually done all at once, according to Colon. The resident has accrued $4,000 in rent arrears. She is also disabled.
Marymount Manhattan College Hosts Fourth Annual "Bound for Broadway" to Benefit Christopher Reeve Foundation
The student cabaret show "Bound for Broadway" will return to Marymount Manhattan College for the fourth year on Thursday, March 16. The event, which has become a popular annual tradition at MMC and is sponsored by Student Theatre at Marymount (STAM), will showcase the performances of musical theatre students and include a raffle and a catered dinner.
All proceeds from "Bound for Broadway" will go to the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which is committed to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders, and improving the quality of life for people living with disabilities.
..."Bound for Broadway" will take place Thursday, March 16th, at 6:00 PM in the Regina Peruggi Room (Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71st Street). The evening includes a catered dinner, the program, and a raffle. Ticket cost $8 in advance, and $10 at the door. All proceeds go to the Christopher Reeve Foundation. Photos and video of the event will be available by request. Please contact the event coordinator, Sarah Galli (sgalli@mmm.edu, 401.864.8962) for more information about the event. For more information on the Christopher Reeve Foundation, visit www.ChristopherReeve.org.