Emily Keller-O'Donnell, Journalist

Employment Remains Stagnant for People with Disabilities

    One million Americans with disabilities are looking for a job and can’t find one according to new data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

    Statistics show that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities increased slightly from August 2010 to August 2011 but declined for people without a disability. The total unemployment rate for people with disabilities is now nearly double that of the nondisabled population, according to the DOL data.

The Impacts of Tropical Storm Irene

    During and after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the tri-state area, people with disabilities and their advocates reported lack of accessibility at some evacuation centers and insufficient disaster planning for the disability community.

    The City ordered evacuations from “Zone A” neighborhoods that are considered the most vulnerable to flooding. Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY) surveyed six of the shelters for those residents and found problems with accessibility. 

Gov. Cuomo Questions Nonprofits on Executive Pay

    Governor Andrew Cuomo has formed a task force to seek data from nonprofits on the compensation they provide to executives and board members.

    The Governor’s Task Force on Not-For-Profit Entities is requesting information on executive pay, the reasons the organizations consider themselves nonprofits and whether the boards believe that any of the executive compensation should be recouped.

    Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, is the chair of the task force. “Our task force is conducting a top-to-bottom review, not only to audit current compensation levels, but also make recommendations for future rules to ensure taxpayer dollars are used to serve and support the people of this state, not pay for excessive salaries and compensation,” Lawsky wrote in a letter to nonprofits dated August 25.

Judge Forbids City From Removing Emergency Call Boxes

    New York City must retain emergency call boxes with fire and police buttons on streets and other locations because it has not provided an accessible alternative, a judge said in August, settling a lawsuit filed on behalf of people with hearing disabilities.

    The City had sought to lift a 1996 injunction banning removal of the boxes and proposed using pay phones enhanced with a tapping mechanism as a replacement. One tap would indicate that the emergency was a fire and two taps would request the police.

Obituary of Fred Fay

    The independent living movement is mourning the loss of a powerful force last month when Fred Fay passed away. Fay was 66 and lived in Concord, Mass.

    Fay became an activist after being injured in a trapeze accident at 16 that damaged his spinal cord. Fay learned that he would never walk again and began using a wheelchair and then driving a car.

    When he was 17, Fay co-founded a counseling and information center with his mother Janet called “Opening Doors” and the Washington Architectural Barriers Project that fought for accessibility of the D.C. transit system.

    Fay developed assistive technology systems that use computers to empower people with physical disabilities. He was pivotal to the movement that achieved the passage of the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Real Estate Developer Settles Building Access Lawsuit

    The owner and developer of a luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side will be paying thousands of dollars to residents with disabilities following the legal settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit.

    U.S. District Judge Richard Berman has ruled that L & M 93rd Street LLC and Costas Kondylis & Partners LLP Architects prohibited access for people with disabilities in their building, The Melar. Neither company could be reached for comment.

Paterson and Blind Foundation Advocate for Fair Wages

    Former Gov. David Paterson and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) are calling for the removal of a clause in the federal Workforce Investment Act that would allow employers to pay people with disabilities a subminimum wage for job training.

    The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP Committee) was scheduled to vote on renewal of the act on August 3 but that vote has been postponed indefinitely. The committee’s vote on the Combating Autism Act, which is scheduled to expire Sept. 30, was postponed until Sept. 7.

Student Battles Education Department Over Bullying

    A judge has ruled that a lawsuit by a New York City student seeking private school tuition funding after being bullied in public school for having a disability will go forward.

    The student, known as L.K., charged that repeated bullying at school affected her ability to earn an education and that her school was aware of the situation and did nothing about it. The plaintiff said the school showed “deliberate indifference” to the situation, which is prohibited by Title IX, according to a summary of the case.

Federal Communications Commission Releases 911 Accessibility Report

    The Emergency Access Advisory Committee of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released the results of a national survey about 911 technology for people with disabilities.

    The survey was conducted in April in May. That data was based on more than 3,000 completed surveys and 9,000 partially fill out questionnaires.

Care Organization Replaces CEO Amidst Controversy

    A longtime leader of the Young Adult Institute (YAI) Network serving people with developmental disabilities has left the organization for reasons that remain unclear.

    Dr. Philip Levy had worked at YAI for forty years. He became president in 1999 and chief executive officer (CEO) in July 2009, taking the place of his brother Joel Levy who retired as CEO the month before and stayed on as a consultant.