Evan Yankey supports Intro 1107, MOPD funding, and Intro 131
Evan Yankey, advocacy director at Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, says CCHR complaints often lead to years of inaction. He supports Intro 1107 but urges increased funding for MOPD, and supports Intro 131 and the UNCRPD and Autistic Pride resolutions.
Good afternoon, I'm Evan Yinky, and I'm Advocacy Director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, an independent living center supporting people with disabilities in Brooklyn and beyond.
And I, for visual description, I'm a white man in my 40s wearing a blue suit jacket, a gray plaid shirt, glasses, and medium length brown hair.
We wanted to thank the City Council Disability Committee and its staff for holding this hearing and for being a forum for disability issues in the city.
And a personal thanks to Chair Hanif, who has been a principled supporter of our community.
We support the Council's focus on the City's Commission on Human Rights at today's hearing.
The Commission must strengthen its commitment to protecting the rights of disabled New Yorkers by increasing the number of staff devoted to protecting our rights,
more aggressively following up on complaints, and pursuing legal and legislative action in response to systemic patterns of discrimination.
While the rhetoric from the Commission is typically supportive of our rights, complaints to the Commission often lead to years of inaction or proposed settlements that do not result in real change.
It's time for a new approach at the Commission.
We support Intro 1107, which would require the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in consultation with the Commission on Civil Rights and the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, to develop guidance and public education campaign on service animal access.
However, we must urge that this important work
come with increased funding for MOPD.
We agree that MOPD can and should play a major role in creating city policy, but it must have adequate resources to do the job well.
MOPD is severely underfunded, as documented in a 2022 report by the Center for an Urban Future.
The report showed that New York City spent significantly less per capita on funding for city disability office than other major cities.
This targeted austerity shows up in the ongoing barriers people with disabilities face in accessing city services in a barrier-free life in communities of their choice.
Intro 1107 is welcome legislation in support of the many service animal users who face barriers to access in their daily life.
We think the city should be making an effort on public education, but we also think that city agencies must actively do more to enforce access when people are denied entry to spaces or services.
This is especially true for for-hire vehicles, including Uber and Lyft and local car services, which routinely and illegally deny use by service animal users.
The city also can play a role in ensuring that people with disabilities who have service animals have a way of seeking recourse when dealing with landlords and housing managers who discriminate against them.
In developing its guidance, we urge the city to consult closely with our community and specifically with the representatives of the blind community and mental health community.
We also urge the city to pass Intro 0131, particularly in the wake of increased...
increased threats and challenges from the federal government against transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex New Yorkers.
Washington and some states have used their targeting of transgender people to undermine established disability protections, including enforcement of federal Section 504 rules, and it is important the city makes every effort to protect access for all.
We are thankful for the resolutions in support of Autistic Pride Day and ratifications of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
These are both areas where the city can do more in publicizing the barriers that people face and establishing affirmative rights for autistic New Yorkers and other people with disabilities.
And just on a personal note, I'm an autistic adult and a member of Autistic Adults NYC, which is, as far as we can tell, the largest autistic-led group that has ever existed in the city.
You know, we hope this committee and the city can work more with that group and give them more increased funding for all the work they do to break down barriers for autistic adults in the city.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
And once again, we urge you to move forward with plans to more fairly fund MOPD.
Thank you.