There are many disability services in New York State that allow us to be involved in our community and social environments. Unfortunately, budget cuts and misguided priorities throughout our country frequently place these services on precarious grounds.
What services are we focused on?
- Day programs. Those who don’t have enough home care hours frequently go to day programs for disabled people. Due to Covid-19, many of these services are under threat, specifically with budget cuts and programming issues.
- J1 visa program. This specific visa program allows camp counselors from all over the world come to the United States to work at summer camps for disabled children and adults. Many camps in the tri-state rely on these programs for much of their staff. Also because of current Covid-19 budget cuts, the current administration is planning on closing this program.
Unfortunately in times of crises, services for the disabled are the first to get cut or defunded. This reflects many structural issues in our society, but most predominantly it highlights how undervalued our community truly is. If you’re interested, please join our newest working group in devising a game plan for advocating for these systems to remain funded and valued in our country!
Interested in what you see here?
To join this working group, fill out our membership form or shoot us an e-mail. Have any ideas on what the Downstate NY chapter of ADAPT could be doing to advocate for disability services? Reach out — we would love to hear from you.