2020 JUNE NY.Indd

VOLUME 26 NUMBER 1 JUNE 2020 IN THIS ISSUE ASL REQUIRED Commissioner Calise UrgingIN THIS Everyone ISSUE to Heed Court to Gov. – Include Sign at Updates Health Dept. Guidelines PAGE 2 Budget Cuts Medicaid-Funded Programs Impacted PAGE 3 Fair Housing Alliance NFHA Sues Facilities To Accommodate Deaf PAGE 4 Gov. Cuomo’s daily press briefing includes sign interpreter, right, for the first time after court order. Zoom Zoom By Karin Falcone Krieger will also be available at www. able to view Cuomo’s real time United Spinal & BCID ew York Gov. Andrew governor.ny.gov/. Going forward, interpreter online. Cuomo had de- Offer Online Sessions Cuomo’s daily press con- we will continue to assess ef- fended that arrangement, at var- PAGE 4 ferences update not only forts around accessibility for the ious times saying it was enough, N Challenging Times New Yorkers but the nation Governor’s press conferences.” that there were technical issues and the world of the COVID-19 On May 13, complying with the with televising the interpreter COVID-19 and Polio crisis. However, his reliable judge’s order, an ASL interpreter and that for safety’s sake he did Epidemics Examined daily televised messages were was televised on the lower right not wish to bring additional staff PAGE 7 not accessible to all, until May hand corner of the screen, not in to the briefings. 13. proximity to Governor.The Gov- The court compelled him to do 4 Wheel City On May 11, United States ernor’s office had not yet publicly more. During the May 13 broad- Hip-Hop Group Heals & District Judge Valerie Caproni commented at press time. cast there was no mention of the Organizes Relief Effort for the Southern District of New Cuomo had drawn criticism ASL interpreter on screen. Before PAGE 9 York granted Disability Rights that the 49 other state governors May 13, viewers were not provid- New York’s motion for a Prelim- had televised ASL interpreters ed with clear directions such as a Tax Prep inary Injunction and ordered the for COVID-19 media coverage by message onscreen directing them Free Remote Services Governor to immediately imple- the time of the lawsuit. to the NY.gov website where ASL For NYC Residents ment in-frame ASL interpreters TTY or closed captioning does interpretation was available. PAGE 11 during his press briefings. not work well for many deaf peo- Politico reported that Arkady In an undated press release ple who sign, for whom reading Belozovsky has been interpret- the Division of Human Rights English is akin to learning a sec- ing Cuomo’s words since March issued “From the Office of Gov- ond language. ASL relies on facial 27 online, but did not appear in- ernor Andrew Cuomo on ASL expressions and other gestures frame until the judge’s order. Be- Interpretation.”“Our office has and conveys more accurate infor- lozovsky, who is deaf, is a certified already been providing closed mation than teletype accommo- deaf interpreter, trained to inter- captioning for the Governor’s dations. pret for individuals who might VISIT press conferences; starting today One defendant in the lawsuit have a more limited knowledge of ABLE’S real-time ASL interpretation for lived at a location which did not American Sign Language. During WEBSITE the Governor’s press conferences provide internet, so he was un- Continued on page 16 WWW.ABLENEWS.COM ABLE NEWSPAPER From The Commissioner’s Desk P.O. BOX 395, OLD BETHPAGE, NY 11804 516 939-2253 FAX 516 939-0540 Hello Everyone, our office using other ways to [email protected] Over the past few months, receive resources and assis- www.ablenews.com NYC has been focusing on the tance. outbreak, containment, and treatment of COVID-19. We Voice Phone have worked to flatten the 212 – 788 – 2830 curve of COVID-19 through ASL Video Phone the expansion of accessible 646 – 396 – 5830 testing facilities, continuance of health education, and ad- Beyond COVID resourc- herence to social distancing es, my office has been work- as well as face-covering man- ing to ensure accessibility in dates. Despite the positive in- the digital space. On Global Published By dications of our progress, we Accessibility Awareness Day Melmont Printing cannot ease up on health and (5/21), we released a series of Publisher NEW YORK ABLE NEWSPAPER - JUNE 2020 PAGE 2 - JUNE 2020 PAGE ABLE NEWSPAPER YORK NEW safety practices. accessibility guides for web- Angela Miele Melledy Everyone should continue sites, documents, social me- following NYC Health De- dia, videos and virtual meet- MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise Editorial Assistant partment guidelines. Stay ings. For a complete list of Allison Howe home unless absolutely nec- these guides visit NYC.gov/ the disability community. If Pat Horwell essary. If you need to go out, accessibilityguides. anyone with a disability needs wear some form of facial cov- In addition, to help pass any kind of assistance, please Staff Writers Beth Guarino (emerita) ering, stay a minimum dis- the time we have put togeth- do not hesitate to reach out to tance of six feet apart from er a collection of accessible our office using the contact in- Columnists others whenever possible, virtual events that you can formation above. Disabled in Action avoid touching your face, and enjoy from home. Our Virtu- Thank you to all of our Phil Beder wash your hands frequently. al Activities Toolkit contains doctors, nurses, home health Edith Prentiss For the latest Health guide- activities such as virtual aides, personal care atten- Anthony Trocchia lines visit nyc.gov/coronavi- events, museum tours, work- dants, and other frontline United Spinal Association rus or text “COVID” to 692- outs, performances, podcasts, healthcare staff who are Jim Weisman 692. and more. To view our contin- saving lives every single If you are in need of food de- ually updated list, please visit day. Thank you to our gro- Production Director livery, home healthcare ser- NYC.gov/disability-virtualac- cery store workers, our local Debbie Simko vices, mental health services tivities. In addition, we plan restaurants, food delivery or anything else during this on virtually celebrating the services, transit workers, taxi Art & Production th Jennifer Becker time, please visit our website 30 anniversary of the ADA and for-hire vehicle drivers, Ann Imbrogno at NYC.gov/disability-corona- throughout the month of July sanitation workers, and oth- Marilyn Wheeler virus for continually updated so please visit nyc.gov/ada30 er essential employees who COVID-19 disability resourc- for updates on virtual events. continue to keep our City run- Technical Assistance es. As we begin to plan for what ning. Louis Melledy If you do not have access an inclusive recovery process We are all in this together to a computer or the Inter- looks like, MOPD will contin- and we will move past this Social Media Assistance net, you can still reach out to ue to advocate for the needs of stronger than ever, Sofie Melledy Ciao, Office Manager Commissioner Fannie Miele (emerita) Census Available Online Victor Calise Affects Everyone Accounting The census, which has been the number of people living in Margaret Wenzel available online since mid- each home, along with their Advertising Rates March, collects simple data gender, age, race and ethnicity. Furnished Upon Request from every household in the It will also inquire whether the country about each person who home is owned or rented. The lives in that household. Im- census will not ask about im- Postmaster: Send address changes to Able News at P.O. Box 395, Old Bethpage, N.Y. 11804. Period- portant programs, services and migration or citizenship status, icals are being paid for at Bethpage, N.Y. post of- income or social security num- fice. ©1994 ABLE NEWSPAPER. Able Newspaper funding are all based on census The Deadline is published monthly by Melmont Printing, 6 Robert results. ber. Court, Bethpage, N.Y. 11714. Able welcomes manuscripts and suggestions for articles. However, to Affordable housing prices is By law, the information will For The assure safe return, manuscripts must be accompa- nied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. No re- one example. If the majority be kept confidential. Respons- sponsibility is assured for unsolicited manuscripts of New York residents who re- es can only be used to produce or art. Submissions are the author’s warranty that July Issue of the material is not an infringement of the rights spond to the census are those statistics. They cannot be used of others and that the material may be published for law enforcement or to deter- without further approval. Editorial material does not who are upper income individ- Able Newspaper necessarily reflect the view of the editor/publisher uals, then affordable housing mine eligibility for government of Able Newspaper. Advertisers are responsible for the content of advertisements. No part of this pub- is based on that income, which benefits. lication may be reprinted without the permission Will Be June 16 of the publisher. Able is not responsible for errors will not be an accurate account For information contact in advertisements beyond the price of the space of everyone’s average income. Margi Trapani, mtrapani@cid- occupied by the error. The publisher reserves the right to decline advertising for any reason. The questionnaire will ask ny.org. PAGE 3 JUNE 2020 - NEW YORK ABLE NEWSPAPER YORK 3 JUNE 2020 - NEW PAGE Cuts Impact Medicaid-Funded Programs By Patricia Horwell or other familiar parties as look back period when ap- usually a female, will give ospitals, Medicaid re- caregivers with their salaries plying for Medicaid nursing up a career and a large part cipients and home- paid by the program.

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