NYAPRS Note: The following comes from our adult home resident friends at CIAD (www.ciadny.org).
E-Mail Governor Cuomo to Reach Agreement to Honor Adult Residents’ Rights to Live in the Community!
Now is the time to let Governor Cuomo know that New York shouldn’t need a court order to support adult home residents with psychiatric disabilities to move into the community!
Please e-mail the Governor today at http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php!
Place your name and contact information in the left column
and cut and paste your version of the text below in the right one.
Feel free to use ‘Adult Home Residents’ Right’ in the subject line
and Disability Assistance from the Topic Menu.
Please act today!
Feel free to use the following message as a base or as your message.
I write to ask you to champion adult home residents’ with psychiatric diagnosis’ and their goal to live as full citizens in independent housing in our communities. As you know, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, recently overturned a federal court order in DAI v. Paterson. I am disappointed in the court’s decision, but I believe the time is at hand for these New Yorkers. They have waited too long to move out of what are de facto warehouses for many of them.
You have spoken out in your State of the State address for the rights of New Yorkers with disabilities, and you affirm the Americans with Disabilities Act and the US Supreme Court’s Olmstead Decision by pledging to deinstitutionalize the many New Yorkers trapped in segregated, restrictive settings. You have a long history of commitment to housing people with disabilities in the community. You also recognize it will cost New York State less to do so. Your bold leadership has shown you do not need a court to tell you to do the right thing.
Please ensure that the State of New York reaches a successful agreement with plaintiff’s in the DAI case, and provide the funding, some of which you have already allocated for this year, so that adult home residents with mental illness in New York City can choose to lead fuller more productive lives in the community. Thank you.