Today, Assemblyman Brian Miller stood with his Minority Conference colleagues and voiced concern over Gov. Cuomo’s decision to take jobs and opportunities away from individuals with disabilities. The Assembly Minority Task Force on Protecting the Rights of People with Developmental Disabilities has submitted several proposals to protect the rights of our state’s most vulnerable.

“The governor’s move to close sheltered workshops across the state has endangered the welfare of countless individuals with disabilities,” said Miller. “People who once had a safe place to work and learn skills to help them develop, now have no place to go. We should be looking after the well-being of these individuals, not stripping them of any sense of safety and stability.”

The Assembly Minority made several suggestions to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities as part of its Championing Aid, Rights, Equality, and Services (C.A.R.E.S.) Plan including:

• Require the attorney general to reevaluate the state’s interpretation of the Olmstead Decision;
• Work with the federal government to ensure no loss of funding for the state;
• Create post-schooling training programs to better prepare individuals with disabilities for employment;
• Repurpose already closed workshops to provide housing for those who can live on their own, and create group housing for those who need more assistance;
• Fully fund the minimum wage increase for direct care workers employed by non-profit service providers; and
• Create a bill of rights for individuals with developmental disabilities.

The task force report included additional proposals, and was unveiled at today’s press conference. It can be found here in its entirety.