Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-Cicero) announced that he helped pass a legislative package to support New Yorkers with disabilities in honor of this year’s Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day, May 29. The package includes measures to expand disability rights and ensure access to critical resources for New Yorkers with disabilities.

“Every New Yorker should have the opportunity to follow their dreams. These legislative measures will strengthen the support network for individuals with disabilities so they aren’t hindered by unfair disadvantages,” said Stirpe.

To help students with disabilities pursue higher education, Stirpe co-sponsored and helped pass a bill that would reauthorize the current law requiring publishers of printed materials for college students to provide them in electronic formats and make them available for purchase for students with disabilities at a comparable price to the printed version (A.7251). This bill will ensure all students have easy access to their school materials in a format that works for them, noted Stirpe.

The New York Achieving a Better Life Experience (NY ABLE) Program helps New Yorkers with disabilities and their families manage some of the costs that come with living with a physical or developmental disability. To provide as much support as possible, Stirpe helped pass a measure that would increase the allowable maximum account balance for the NY ABLE Program to an amount equal to the federally authorized level for the 529 College Savings Program (A.7473).

Stirpe also supported several measures to ensure all New Yorkers with disabilities are treated equally and with dignity, including a bill that would waive the state’s sovereign immunity with regard to application of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 as they apply to the protection of state employees (A.1092). Other measures re-establish the Office of Advocate for People with Disabilities (A.4737); and require public officers and bodies to provide interpreters and assistive listening devices for deaf or hard of hearing individuals at public hearings (A.3385-A).

To make the voting process easier, the legislative package also includes a measure that would require the state Board of Elections to post a copy of a sample ballot, including electronically for use with a computer screen-reading program, on its website prior to each election as soon as the relevant information becomes available (A.163).

Stirpe also helped pass several measures to help strengthen services for those with disabilities, including one requiring local social service districts, after considering certain factors, to give controlling weight to a recipient/applicant’s regular physician’s opinion when determining potential work limitations or exemptions due to a disability (A.4236). Another requires the Commissioner of Health to maintain specific reimbursement and billing procedures within Medicaid for complex rehabilitation technology (CRT) products and services to ensure that payments for such products and services permit adequate access to complex needs patients and take into account the significant resources, infrastructure and staff required to meet their needs (A.7492).

Stirpe also supported measures to:

• ensure individuals with disabilities are protected in case of an emergency by requiring counties with local emergency management plans to maintain a confidential, opt-in registry of people of all ages with disabilities who may require evacuation assistance and shelter during a disaster (A.3923);
• combat discrimination in the workforce by establishing a small-business tax credit for the employment of people with disabilities (A.7475); and
• keep New Yorkers with disabilities in their homes by creating a tax credit for either new or retrofitted principal residences that are universally designed to be accessible and adaptable housing (A.2493).

Stirpe has long been an outspoken advocate for New Yorkers with disabilities. He recently served as the master of ceremonies for the 2019 Onondaga County Special Olympics.