Tagged: disabled

The state legislature is finished voting on a $141.3 billion state budget, with the Assembly completing it's work shortly before midnight on Thursday. The final passage occurred one week past lawmakers’ s self-imposed deadline, but three days before the spending plan was actually due to be finished. 

The state budget is on track to be finished on time, and before the March 31 deadline, now that all of the spending bills were finally printed shortly before midnight on Monday.

One of the areas of disagreement in the state budget centers on funding for services for New York’s developmentally disabled people. 

Advocates for the disabled will be out in force in Syracuse Friday, rallying against Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed cuts to the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. The six percent across-the-board budget proposal would mean major cuts to the agencies across the state that provide support and services for the developmentally disabled. Many families are afraid of what will happen if those services go away.

The recent accusation against former Onondaga County Family Court Judge Brian Hedges, that he sexually molested his 5-year-old deaf niece 40 years ago,  has brought the issue of abuse against the disabled  into the open.

The disabled community in central New York this week celebrates the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  While there have been so many successes in the fight for equal access for the disabled, there is still work to be done.