Candidate Name:
(Note: please attach complete resume)

Campaign Manager:
Phone:

How will you incorporate people with disabilities into your campaign?

• Are you willing to hire and use flex-time and job-sharing if necessary?

Campaign Name:
Campaign Address:
Phone:
Fax:
Address:
Email:
Website:

Previous elected offices held:

Previous appointed offices held:

Key endorsements to date:

Community organizations:

Political leaders:

Local community leaders:

Labor:

Action Shows Commitment!

1. While in public office/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?

2. What oversight have you performed regarding implementation of programs/legislation you have passed (in first term or in previous offices)?

3. What implementation strategy do you have for your future programs and legislation to help constituents with disabilities?

4. Will you commit to only attend or sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities? This includes providing written materials in alternate formats for people with low vision, providing assistive listening systems for people who are hard-of-hearing, and sign language interpreters for people who are deaf, as well as ensuring that locations are accessible to people who use mobility aids, like wheelchairs and walkers?

    

   General Questions:

5. What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities?

   1. In your personal life?

   2. ...in the workplace?

   3. ...what special accommodations do you believe/think are in use in the workplace?

6. How do you propose your active involvement/availability to the disability community?

   1. Will there be a specific person in your office responsible to this community?

   2. Will have regular office agenda meetings on these issues?

7. Neither Mayor Bloomberg nor his predecessor have ever met with the leadership of disability community, although they have met with other communities. What would you do to have more direct contact with our community?

    

   Housing:

8. What is your position on extending the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) to low-income, eligible persons with disabilities under the age of 62 on the same basis and income level (currently the income cap for seniors is $24,000, but for persons with disabilities it has been set at $17,000)?

9. What have you done/accomplished in regard to extension of SCRIE or similar programs?

10. What alternative programs will you propose to allow persons with disabilities to stay in their own homes/apartments? Perhaps a dedicated housing trust fund should be established for persons with disabilities? Would you provide a data base of available accessible housing?

11. The City Human Rights Law currently permits civil penalties to be assessed against discriminators to vindicate the public interest, but these penalties are seldom if ever assessed against housing providers who have failed to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. Will you commit to imposing such penalties so as to create a greater incentive for housing providers to comply with the law?

12. New York City is in the process of adopting a new building code:

    1. how would you advocate for the strongest possible access provisions?

    2. Emergency evacuation for people with disabilities: what would you do to ensure that provisions are put in place to improve survival rates of people with disabilities in the event of fire, attack, blackout, or other emergency situation?

    3. What would you do to ensure that "Visitability" is enacted in New York City? Visitability = the movement towards establishing guidelines providing that newly constructed multi-family dwellings have basic accessible/adaptable features that permit friends and family with disabilities to visit, and for residents to "age in place," without having to move out when age and/or disability set in.

13. Will you develop new and renovated housing for people with disabilities?

14. What efforts are you willing to commit to assuring that people with disabilities do not become homeless - are able to stay in their own apartments with adequate supports.

Employment:

• People with disabilities have one of the highest rates of unemployment and underemployment in the community as a result of both physical and attitudinal barriers. What have you done in your present office to advance employment opportunities for people with disabilities? What would you do as Mayor to increase the employment of people with disabilities in both City government and the private sector?

Organization:

1. What is your position on efforts to elevate the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) to a commissioner level agency? How would you ensure that city departments/agencies coordinate through MOPD?

2. What implementation/authority should MOPD have, and/or how would you ensure that MOPD have?

3. Since presumably "this" office is a Mayoral Office, how would you enforce and do oversight regarding the work of the office and be certain of the implementation and its efforts?

Accessibility:

1. Under Mayor Bloomberg, the City settled with the United Spinal Association and agreed to install curb cuts -- pedestrian ramps, on all corners which presently don’t have one. However, no provision has been made to repair or replace those current ones which are unsafe. How would you ensure that curb cuts—pedestrian ramps — are provided on or repaired on streets that need them? What would you establish as a timetable?

2. What steps do you think NYC should take to encourage business owners to make their establishments more accessible?

3. Do you believe that landmark buildings can be made accessible without losing their historical integrity?

Transportation

Would you support an expansion of affordable wheelchair accessible transportation in NYC, including taxis, livery service, express buses, airport shuttle service, more accessible subway stations, etc.?

1. Efforts to secure a 100% accessible fleet of medallion taxis have been hampered by opposition from Mayor Bloomberg and the taxi industry. Wheelchair accessible taxis are present in many cities as a result of strong support from local Mayors and City Councils. What would you do to assure that all New York City residents, commuters and tourists have access to an important form of public transportation, our medallion taxis and community car services?

2. Access-A-Ride has denied rides to many eligible consumers, caused unnecessarily long trips, and has left many consumers stranded at the curb. What would you do to improve the quality of service for those who must use Access-A-Ride?

3. Do you favor the construction of the Second Avenue Subway? If so, is this a priority?

Civil Rights

1. The Local Civil Rights Restoration Act (Intro 22) seeks to protect the vigor and independence of the City’s Human Rights Law against the attacks of an increasingly conservative state and federal judiciary. 38 Council sponsors, 32 civil rights and allied organizations, and three hearings should be enough to get the job done, but the Mayor opposes the most central aspect of the bill, the need for City Human Rights Law not to be restricted as federal and state civil rights law gets cut back. Would you work to assure its passage?

2. Under the Bloomberg Administration, the Corporation Council intervened on the side of the city of Sacramento when it sought to challenge the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding the requirement to maintain accessible sidewalks. Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections for persons with disabilities?

Long Term Care

1. In the Olmstead decision, the Supreme Court ruled that severely disabled persons have the right to live in the community in the "least restrictive environment," and not be warehoused in nursing homes. In spite of the fact that personal care services are often more cost effective, and severely disabled persons are often happier and live longer in their own homes, there continues to be a nursing home bias in government. What would you do to insure that consumers have the opportunity to remain in the community if they so desire?

2. The Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP): Enables self-directing senior citizens and younger disabled persons (or their surrogates) receiving home care under Medicaid to recruit, hire, train, supervise and (if necessary) discharge their workers, with the home care agency servicing as a "fiscal conduit" to pay salaries, taxes and benefits based on information provided by the consumer and worker. Although CDPAP is a product of the disability rights movement, HRA no longer allows consumers to serve on the Boards of provider agencies and has encouraged agencies to move away from the "self-directing" model to the more traditional "medical" model. Currently only about 1,500 consumers and their surrogates are enrolled in CDPAP. Would you, as Mayor, seek to reverse that policy and strengthen and expand CDPAP? Please describe strategy and time frame for such policy change.

Education

1. Children with disabilities often attend schools with segregated placements, insufficient supports to function in a regular classroom, or travel in poorly maintained buses to attend schools far from their homes because their neighborhood school is inaccessible, cannot or will not provide an appropriate education. Months have passed before an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is developed or implemented. What will you specifically direct the Chancellor to do to assure that the policies of the Department of Education are more user friendly to children with disabilities and their parents? Provide time frame.

2. As a result of cutbacks in Federal funding, programs serving students with disabilities in the CUNY system are being eliminated, including the home-bound program at Queensborough Community College. These students often find that CUNY fails to provide mandated supports. What would you do as Mayor to assure that disabled students in the CUNY system have the required services to assure their academic success?

Mental Health

The Brad H case involved the dumping of mentally ill inmates released from Rikers Island at Queens Plaza with $2.00 for carfare and no discharge plan nor medication. Despite a court ruling, the city was recently found to continue these shameful practices. Recognizing that people with mental disabilities need more support and supervision, what will you specifically do to assure the discontinuance of these shameful practices, provide appropriate assistance to this population? And, to assure a smoother transition from Rikers to the community for these releasees?

Candidate Signature: ______________________ Date: ____________