Wed, February 21, 2018
Last Tuesday, 33 people from across YAI went to Albany to join the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation in their lobbying efforts. With such wide representation from the agency, we were able to meet with 40 different elected officials or their chiefs of staff! The group was able to thank their elected officials for supporting a living wage for Direct Support Professionals. YAI's representatives advocated for our elected officials continue to support the #bFair2DirectCare Campaign and...
Sat, February 13, 2016
From the Poughkeepsie Journal, an opinion piece by officials from several service providers -- Jeffery Fox, Ph.D., Abilities First; Neil Pollack, Anderson Center for Autism; Gerard Dohrenwend, Cerebral Palsy of Ulster County; Vicki Sylvester, Ph.D., Community Based Services; Samuel Laganaro, New Horizons Resources, and Crys McCuin, The Arc of Dutchess. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plans to increase the minimum wage across New York State to $15 an hour incrementally by 2021 are well-known, and we commend...
Thu, February 11, 2016
Advocacy in action in Connecticut . Families and self-advocates are critical to gaining support of state lawmakers. Keep up the good fight Nutmeggers! Hoping Josh Kovner the Hartford Courant continues to focus on this key issue. HARTFORD — The signs of influence were there: About 30 legislators showed up at a rallying point Wednesday as dozens of parents of children with intellectual disabilities prepared to fan out through the Capitol complex and press lawmakers to resist $47 million in...
Wed, February 03, 2016
New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families and our field needs to speak up. Contact Gov. Andrew Cuomo 's office and your NYS legislators. We need to ensure our voices are heard. Sharing NYSARC Executives' op-ed from Albany Times Union. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed $15 minimum wage contains a serious flaw that threatens the financial viability of an entire field of caregivers and the people and families those caregivers support.While the governor has...
Mon, January 04, 2016
Bonnie Schinagle, a special education attorney, shares her advice to parents of children with disabilities. Learn more by attending our upcoming Autism Family Support Series on Jan. 14, 2016.
Tue, April 17, 2012
Person: “What do you do for a living?” Me: “I am an Occupational Therapist.” Person: “Oh … you help people get jobs?” or “That is basically a Physical Therapist right?” or “Can I get a massage?” This conversation plays out more frequently than I would prefer to admit. So, because April is Occupational Therapy Month, I am celebrating with a clarification of what OT is and what we do here at the Center for Specialty Therapy. I can think of no better way to explain OT than through the words of our...
Fri, February 10, 2012
Earlier this week, Barry's son Jeffrey moved into the E. 52nd St Residence in Brooklyn. I think Marion (my wife) is doing better than I am. I'm taken aback by the depth of my feelings. Don't get me wrong, after 10 or more years, I wanted to see Jeffrey move into this home. Now that it's done, it seems like he has taken to it like a duck to water, which is what we had hoped. Every parent wants to see their child safe, comfortable and happy. When he called the other morning to say, "Hi Dad, I'm...
