Partnering with the LGBT Community

Posted on July 15, 2010

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

Recently, the Center for Disability Rights embarked on a new initiative – reaching out to, and partnering with our local LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) community.

Rochester has a large and vibrant LGBT community, a significant number of whom are people with disabilities. In the effort to make CDR a more welcoming place to our LGBT staff, consumers, and visitors, it was only natural that we would include the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (GAGV) and other LGBT organizations in the greater Rochester area. Read more

Unnecessary Institutionalization is Discrimination

Posted on June 21, 2010

Unnecessary Institutionalization is Discrimination: The Olmstead Decision
By: Anita Cameron

“Unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities is discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act”. These few words summarized the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court when it handed down its decision in the case of Olmstead v. L.C. on June 22, 1999. The Supreme Court further stated that people with disabilities have the right to receive services in the “most integrated setting”, a provision of the ADA known as the “inclusion mandate”. Read more

He’s Underpaid and We’re Overcharged!

Posted on May 13, 2010

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

RGRTA CEO Mark Aesch Gets 15% Raise

The Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority Board of Commissioners decided last Wednesday that its Chief Executive Officer, Mark Aesch, will receive a fifteen percent pay raise. His annual salary will increase from $155,000 to $178,250. John Doyle, Jr., Chair of the RGRTA Board, stated that the raise was appropriate because Aesch was underpaid. He went on to note that Aesch’s new salary still lags behind that of heads of comparable-sized transit authorities.

Wow, money is burning a hole in RGRTA’s pockets, and they want to spend it fast! First, they want to spend $50 million on the Transit Center on Mortimer Street, then, Mark Aesch gets a $23,250 raise, plus more, counting his incentives and bonuses. Read more

Success: CCA Resolution Passes the NYS Assembly

Posted on March 24, 2010

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

Advocates and staff with the Center for Disability Rights have been working hard to get support for the Community Choice Act. Upon hearing that several cities around the country, including New York City, and Binghamton, New York had already passed resolutions in support of the Community Choice Act, CDR launched the CCA Resolution Project at the end of 2008.

The aim of the Project is to get cities, towns, and villages in Monroe County to pass a resolution supporting the Community Choice Act. Read more

No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap!

Posted on March 12, 2010

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

Disabled Activists Travel to Albany to Protest Proposed Budget Cap on Personal Care

38 activists from the Center for Disability Rights joined over 50 other people with disabilities from around the state, converging on Albany on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, to protest Governor Paterson’s proposed budget caps on personal care for people needing more than 12 hours of care per day.

Upon arrival, we broke up into teams of 10 – 15 people and visited the office of every member of the state legislature. Decked out in bright orange t-shirts and baseball caps that read, “No Matter What You Call it…It’s Still a Cap”, we were very noticeable as we scoured the Legislative Office Building. Armed with fliers and baseball caps, our members spoke to staffers and sometimes, the legislators, themselves, putting a human face on the issue by telling how these caps on personal care will send us into costly institutions. Read more

Medicaid Matters Week

Posted on March 3, 2010

March 1-5, 2010 is Medicaid Matters Week. This is a project of Medicaid Matters New York (MMNY), a coalition of over 130 organizations that advocate on behalf of Medicaid consumers. The Center for Disability Rights is a member of MMNY.

Medicaid Matters Week is an opportunity for members of MMNY to project the consumer voice throughout the state using grassroots advocacy methods to say why Medicaid is important to them. Given the fact that this is the height of the budget period, and there is perennial grumbling about the state’s huge Medicaid spending, the importance of the voice of people with Medicaid as their health insurance cannot be overstated. Read more

They Still Don’t Get It: My Vote Story

Posted on November 6, 2009

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

I got up Tuesday (November 3, 2009) bright and (not so) early so that I could make a quick stop at my polling place and vote before going to work. Thankfully, my polling site is down the street from my house at Andrews Terrace, one of those buildings whose residents are mostly seniors or folks with disabilities, so I didn’t have to worry about physical access.

I wondered if I would have the trouble that I had last year, where it took me almost two hours to vote because the machine had not been turned on, or would the machine be “broken” as it was claimed to be when I tried to vote on Primary Day this past September. Oddly, the machine had broken down a few minutes before I came, and they had called it in. I later learned that the Board of Elections had received no such call. Hmmm… Read more

Camp DNC

Posted on July 22, 2009

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

So there we were in front to the Democratic National Committee headquarters after we’d been physically removed from the premises. I’m sure DNC staff thought that ADAPT would head back to our hotel. Obviously, they don’t know ADAPT!

Several of our folks disappeared around the corner, and within minutes, tents and a large lean-to were erected. ADAPT members quickly settled down into what for many of us, has become a familiar routine. Banners were hung, a generator was set up, and a scene emerged that was reminiscent of DUH City and the Free Our People March, with strains of Colorado ADAPT’s vigil Read more

Murdered By Prejudice

Posted on June 25, 2009

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

On Friday, June 19, I went to Brooklyn, NY, to attend a rally and candlelight vigil in the memory of Esmin Green. Ms. Green’s story is but a symptom of the widespread and systematic injustice often perpetrated against people with mental health disabilities.

Esmin Green was 49 years old, and the mother of six daughters. An émigré from Jamaica, Ms. Green was a hard worker, who’d recently lost her job, and was about to lose her home. Like many of us in such circumstances, this was not an easy time for her.

A well-meaning pastor decided that perhaps Ms. Green should get some help, and had her taken to Kings County Hospital Center Psychiatric Emergency Room. There, she changed into a hospital gown, and went to the waiting room so that she could be seen. Read more

One Stolen Life

Posted on June 22, 2009

By Anita Cameron, Systems Advocate

My dad, Rick, is a stunning example of a life that was stolen. In August, 1999, he had a heart attack, which led to global brain injury. When he recovered, he was sent to a rehab center, but staff couldn’t deal with the results of his brain injury – agitation, screaming, and swearing, and told my mother, Alice, that he’d have to go “elsewhere”.

Elsewhere turned out to be a nursing facility.  My mother protested the arrangement, but the rehab folks swore that she couldn’t care for him at home, so with a sigh of resignation, she put him in one of the “better” nursing homes. That’s when things went south.

The morning after his admission, we came to see Rick, and noticed that he was literally covered in urine and feces. Though in shock, we did take pictures. My dad was screaming about “lizards crawling all over me”, which confused Mom until she took a close look, and discovered mouse droppings all over his body. They were also in his drawers, and in his food, which was placed far out of his reach. Read more

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