Disability Rights must be a priority for our city's leaders, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. I will fight to ensure that NYC is a leader in accessibility and opportunities for people with disabilities.

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Accessibility

Access-A-Ride
Access-A-Ride currently serves over 140 thousand disabled New Yorkers who take more than 6 million trips annually, yet the system has been plagued by delays and other problems. As Council Member, I would:

• Use the Council's oversight powers to audit the Access-A-Ride program and identify ways to reform its operations

• Allow riders to apply for Access-a-Ride without having to a visit an in-person assessment center

• Fight for more funding in our city budget, to make sure that we have the resources to accommodate every New Yorker who requires its services

Subway
Currently less than a quarter of the city's 427 subway stations are accessible. This lack of accessibility in a city as supposedly progressive as New York is disgraceful. We must do everything we can to expand accessibility at all of our subway stations. We must:

• Work with state lawmakers to properly fund station upgrades, including working elevators

• Audit the subway system to determine why elevators at subway stations break down so frequently

• Create a real time tracking app that would allow riders to know which stations have non-working elevators at any given time.
   

Education
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that all schools must provide free appropriate public education to any student with a disability. As Council Member, I would:​

• Develop positive approaches to discipline that reduce disparities in suspension rates based on race and disability and keep students in school

• Increase funding to ensure that all students with disabilities are receiving the specialized instruction they need.

• Ensure that the City’s new “Learning Bridges” child care programs provide support for students with disabilities and expand eligibility to include high school students with disabilities.

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Employment

• Work to end policy of paying sub-minimum wage to disabled workers

• Expand the city's 55a program and increase the number of people with disabilities hired for city positions

• Provide financial incentives for private businesses to hire workers with disabilities

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