Candidate Name: Devin P. Cohen

Candidate for: Civil Court - 1st Municipal District, Brooklyn

Campaign Name: Friends of Devin P. Cohen

Campaign Address: P.O. Box 23564, Brooklyn, NY 11202-3564

If you have a campaign office, is it wheelchair accessible? IND's club is wheelchair accessible, and is part of my campaign.

Phone: 718 - 781 - 4184

Email: Friends @ DevinCohen.com

Website: DevinCohen.com

Previous elected offices held: Judicial Delegate; County Committee

Previous appointed offices held: Community Board member & 1st Vice Chair

Key endorsements:

Assembly: Joan Millman, Jim Brennan

State Senate: Velmanette Montgomery, Martin Connor

Congress: Yvette Clarke

New York City Council: David Yassky, Letitia James

District Leaders: JoAnne Simon, Alan Fleishman, Bill Saunders, Ralph Perfetto

Clubs:

• Independent Neighborhood Democrats
• Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
• Lambda Independent Democrats
• 57th Assembly District Regular Democratic Organization
• Stonewall Democrats

1. Please describe any experience with disability you have had in your life or career.

   I have orthopedic birth defects (clubfoot; bowed legs; missing digits; leg length discrepancies; annular bands; webbing). I lived approximately the first 1.5 to 2 years of my life in leg casts to mitigate my clubfoot and bowed legs. I have benefited from those who believed in me and encouraged me to do and try anything I wanted, and those who understood the reasonable accommodations I needed. I have also dealt with those who would not make reasonable accommodations in school and other places to my physical limitations. I have faced those who discouraged me from activities based upon their perception of my physical abilities. I have pushed myself, have not taken no for an answer, and today, I am a black belt in three different martial arts, and I am an Emergency Medical Technician and an EMT instructor.

    

2. How will you incorporate people with disabilities into your campaign?

   I look forward to working with the Members of 504 Dems, and other members of the disability community. I welcome everyone to participate in my campaign in the ways which they prefer, and in a manner which suits each individual.

    

3. If you are in private practice, is your office accessible to people with disabilities? If not, what have you done to ensure access?

   My office is accessible.

    

4. Is the courthouse in which you work accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities? If not, what have you done to ensure access?

   N/A.

    

5. Has a person with a disability appeared before your court as a juror or litigant? If so, please indicate what, if any, challenges arose? And how were they handled?

   I don't recall whether I have ever had a disabled juror. Certainly, in my representation of seriously injured persons, I have represented persons with congenital and acquired disabilities on a regular basis.

    

6. Do you believe that person who is deaf /hard of hearing or person who blind can serve as a juror? Why or why not?

   I believe that persons who are blind or hard of hearing should be able to serve as jurors, subject to their own comfort level, and with the understanding that each juror, regardless of physical disability, may have individual cases to which they might not be best suited.

    

7. Are you willing to hire either on a job share or full time basis, a qualified law clerk/secretary with a disability?

   Of course.

    

8. How will you work within the court structure to assure the accessibility of all facilities of the courts? For example, will you participate in the Committee for People with Disabilities, relevant training opportunities?

   I would be happy to participate in those trainings.