Candidate Name: Jeremiah Frei-Pearson
Candidate for Assembly District: 36 (Queens)
Contact Person: Jesse Laymon, Campaign Manager
Campaign Address: Jesse Laymon, 36-50 Crescent Street, Astoria, NY 11106
Phone: 646-530-0378
Email: jesse@jeremiahfp.org
Website: www.jfp2010.com
Endorsements:
If there is a Campaign office(s), is it wheelchair accessible?
We have two campaign offices. One is fully accessible; the other is not wheelchair accessible.
How have you incorporated people with disabilities into your campaign?
My campaign is open to all. One of my favorite volunteers is my brother Nathaniel, who is developmentally disabled. My grandfather, Tom, lives in a wheelchair and participates regularly in the campaign.
If you are not an incumbent,
Is your present office/work place accessible to people with disabilities?
My present workplace is accessible.
If the present district office is inaccessible, do you intend to find an accessible office?
I believe it is a basic requirement of our democracy to have elected officials that are reachable by all their constituents. I will not consider opening a district office that is not accessible to people with disabilities. The operator of my second office has requested that I make it into the permanent district office; I will not agree to this until she completes the elevator that will make it fully accessible.
What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities in your personal life and in the workplace?
I have had extensive experience with people with disabilities. My younger brother, Nathaniel, is developmentally disabled. Nat was labeled as "retarded"
and my mother was told he would never live independently or develop beyond a middle schooler. Today, Nat is a 28 year-old man who lives independently and he recently a practice test for the GED. Nat's incredible hard work and perseverance far surpass anything I have or will accomplish. He is one of my heroes. He is also a dedicated campaign volunteer. Personally, I am dyslexic. I graduated in the bottom half of my high school class, and went on to significant academic achievement, graduating from Stanford Law School. I have worked extensively with the disabled community. As a civil rights lawyer with Children's Rights, our class action lawsuits on behalf of foster children have mandated that states provide necessary services to disabled children. In college, I regularly volunteered with Best Buddies, where I mentored a developmentally disabled man. My mother, driven by her experiences with my brother, founded the disabilities program at the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts. This program allowed children in wheelchairs to experience dancing.
What type of jobs would you be willing to hire and to provide reasonable accommodation (e.g. flex or part time) for staff members with disabilities?
I believe in hiring the best and brightest people to serve our community, and I will personally make sure to provide all reasonable accommodations necessary for those staff that need them.
While in public office and/or prior to this campaign, what have you accomplished in regard to advancing disability rights? This can include work towards accessible housing, transportation, employment, health care, education, and including people with disabilities in the political process?
As a civil rights lawyer with Children's Rights, our class action lawsuits on behalf of foster children have mandated that states provide necessary services to disabled children. As an intern for Senator Ted Kennedy, I researched potential improvements to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Will you commit to only attend and/or sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities including providing written materials in alternate formats, providing assistive listening systems, and sign language interpreters, as well as ensuring that locations are accessible to people who use mobility aids, like wheelchairs and walkers?
Our public campaign events will all be accessible to the disabled and people who use mobility aids. We cannot control the locations of public events that we do not sponsor (such as debates, etc.), but we will encourage the sponsors of any event we are invited to make sure that necessary accommodations have been provided for people with disabilities.
Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections to persons with disabilities?
My campaign is based on the principle of strengthening and extending civil rights. I became a candidate for office in large part because of the closed-minded anti-equality elected officials our community was previously represented by. I will be a champion for the rights of all groups that have traditionally been discriminated against in our society.
How do you propose your active involvement/availability to the disability community?
Will there be a specific person in your office responsible to this community?
Yes. In addition to having a staffer who is responsible to the disability community, I am personally devoted to the needs of the disabled, in part because of my own family experience with disability. I will be the loudest voice and most vocal advocate in my Assembly office for this community.
Will have regular office agenda meetings on these issues?
Yes. Our office will work to ensure that we regularly consider the needs of each of our constituent communities.
What would you do to have direct contact with our community?
Amongst other efforts, we will look forward to having regular contact with the 504 Democratic Club. We are proud that our state is home to this first Democratic club focused on the needs of the disabled community, and we want to remain connected with the 504 Democrats long after this year's election is complete.
How will you work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation? What will be your strategy?
I will work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation. My office will be open to all, and I look forward to getting the advice of the 504 Democratic Club and other organizations so that I can be an ally for the disabled community.
How would you change the laws of New York State to protect the rights of its citizens with disabilities?
In addition to the other specific proposals mentioned in this questionnaire, one of my top priorities will be to change New York State Law so that disabled children cannot be dropped from their parents' insurance programs.
While the State is focused on reducing the costs of Medicaid and other programs, persons with disabilities need to continue to have access to the services and supports they need and choose.
Would you oppose proposals which would negatively affect eligibility, benefits, coverage, and/or access to services for Medicaid beneficiaries and eliminate the systemic bias that leads to unwanted placement in nursing homes and other institutions?
Absolutely, yes.
Would you seek to promote comprehensive long term care reform that will not reduce coverage or access to services?
Yes, as I stated above, this is one of my campaign priorities.
Would you increase rental/housing subsidies to participants in the new Nursing Facility Transition and Diversion Medicaid waiver program?
Yes.
Would you expand Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage program (EPIC) to provide the same level of eligibility and coverage to persons with disabilities under age 65?
Yes. Our state services should be provided to the public based on need, not on political power. I will fight to expand services to those who need them.
Will you support moving funds from nursing homes to moving patients out of nursing homes and back into the community?
Yes.
We are in the midst of a housing crisis. Accessible, affordable housing is in short supply. People with disabilities are being priced out of the market. Do you support the creation of a housing trust fund for persons with disabilities?
Yes.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires housing developers to set aside a certain percentage of accessible units for persons with disabilities when federal funds are used for construction. Do you favor incorporating these provisions into State law so that the Department of Housing and Community Renewal can be empowered to enforce these provisions?
Yes.
Visitability sets guidelines to ensure newly constructed multi-family dwellings have basic accessible/adaptable features to permit people with disabilities can visit, and for residents to "age in place,"
without having to move out when age and/or disability set in. Do you support incorporating the concept of "visitability"
in the New York State Building Code?
Yes. Over the next half-century, roughly half of our housing stock will turn over. Incorporating visitability into the requirements for new multi-family dwellings is a good way to ensure that the built environment of our future is more accommodating to people with disabilities.
At present: SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) Household income cap is $29,000. DRIE (Disabled Rent Increase Exemption) is $19,284/single and $27,780/2 or more. What is your position on increasing DRIE income eligibility to match SCRIE?
Yes, so long as increasing this exemption would not have the unintended consequence of discouraging landlords from marketing their housing to the disabled. Our goal should be to make sure that the greatest possible quantity of our housing is accessible and affordable for disabled New Yorkers.
While localities have acquired voting machines that attempt to meet the accessibility standards of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), many poling places in New York State remain inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Do you favor the elimination of provisions in Section 4-104 (1-a) of the New York State Election Law allowing waiver of polling place accessibility standards?
Yes. I favor election reforms which would make it easier for all New Yorkers to vote (such as early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, etc.), and would fight to make sure that the next round of changes to our electoral system eliminate this fundamental discrimination against the disabled.
Despite Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, students with disabilities face problems when pursuing higher education. These statutes do not specify how students should request accommodations or assistance in asserting their rights under the law. Will you support a fully funded office of disability services on each SUNY and CUNY campus to assist students with disabilities in securing accommodations?
Every public institution of higher education should be covered by an office of disability services. If such an office can be shared between public institutions to increase its visibility and decrease its cost, that approach should be taken. But no SUNY or CUNY school should leave its disabled students with nowhere to turn to assist them in securing accommodations.
How do you propose dealing with school districts that deny civil rights to disabled students even after the Sate Division of Civil Rights affirms the student's rights such as to use a service animal?
In my private practice, I would have considered bringing a lawsuit on behalf of the disabled students. At Children's Rights, I worked on suits whose goal was not damages for a few neglected children, but a wholesale reform of the system that allowed them to be neglected. The State Division of Civil Rights must be aggressive in enforcing the law.
Do you support legislation requiring car services, and shuttle services to purchase wheelchair accessible vehicles or otherwise ensure that they have the capacity to serve persons with disabilities?
Yes.
Will you or do you support Assembly Member Kellner's proposed bill requiring New York City to transition to a 100% accessible taxi fleet?
As with car services, we must ensure that our taxi fleet provides the necessary accessibility for disabled New Yorkers. I support Assembly Member Kellner's proposed bill - although we must be careful to phase in this reform at an appropriate pace.
Persons with disabilities have historically been under-represented within the Democratic Party leadership. According to the 2000 census, persons with disabilities comprised 20.6% of New York State residents and 23.1% of those 18 years and older. Previously, we were told that only those groups included in the Voting Rights Act were included in the goals and timetables for delegate selection. Yet the lesbian and gay communities were included for the first time at the 2000 convention and again at the 2004 and 2010 conventions. Would you support a campaign to set a goal that 10% of the total New York State Delegation to the 2012 Democratic National Convention be comprised of persons with disabilities.
Yes.