On Monday, Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) celebrated Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day by supporting a package of bills aimed at improving the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities and attending a press conference advocating for the restoration of OPWDD funding, which saw a $90 million cut in the 2013-14 state budget.

“People with disabilities already face all kinds of obstacles in their daily lives,” said Santabarbara. “We’re working to make their life a little easier by making sure they have the same rights as their friends and neighbors because the last thing they need are unnecessary roadblocks.”

The package of bills includes legislation that would:

• ensure that all state employees in New York State have equal protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (A.828);
• make it against the law to discriminate against a person with a service dog – whether they are training the dog or are using it to aid with their own disability; it also makes it a discriminatory housing practice to refuse occupancy or attempt to evict someone based on their use of a service dog (A.5788);
• establish an advocacy program for individuals with developmental disabilities who receive services through a managed care organization that would advise individuals of applicable rights and responsibilities; provide information, referrals and technical assistance; and pursue legal, administrative and other appropriate remedies to ensure the protection of the rights of the enrollees (A.6962)

Supporting disabled veterans

In order to better identify the needs of those who were disabled while serving our country, the Assembly passed legislation to establish the New York State Interagency Council for Service-Disabled Veterans. The council will look to match state resources with the needs of service-disabled veterans, and provide better communication between the two (A.6213-A).

“I’d like to thank Assemblyman Santabarbara for his continued support of veterans and veteran issues,” said “EJ” Knapick, WWII veteran and former AMVETS state commander. “Many veterans don’t know what programs are available to them. This will make it easier for them to access state services that they earned through their selfless-service to our country.”