As Closing of Center Nears, Residents Prepare for Life in Group Homes

We worked with the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities to try and provide balance in this story. A reporter and photographer from The New York Times recently visited one of our Bronx group homes, where Noel Rodriguez, 28, a new resident, recently moved from the Brooklyn Developmental Center. His transition to the home has been seamless, according to staff. Maria Pabon, his mother, couldn't be happier.

Long after lunchtime one recent afternoon, John Cosentino sat at his usual table, eating his usual snacks. On this day, he was the only resident of the Brooklyn Developmental Center in its cavernous cafeteria, drafty and lit with the bleakness of an earlier era.

His father, Tony Cosentino, arranged fruit salad, nuts and pretzels on a paper plate, which John grabbed. Mary Ann Cosentino spoon-fed her son yogurt.

“Very good, John!” she said.

She tensed when John started waving his left hand near his forehead, past the ear he long ago mutilated and the blue eye blinded in a fall at the center. This was his sign that he might hit himself. Instead, he gestured for his white mitts from his L.L. Bean canvas bag monogrammed “J C,” and put them on. Then he suddenly stood up and pushed back his chair. Visit over.

For John Cosentino, 50, an intellectually disabled adult with profound autism and self-injurious behavior who does not speak, this routine has been his refuge. He has lived at the sprawling, state-run center in East New York off the Belt Parkway since he was a teenager. Sometime this year, however, his routine will abruptly end, and he, like the other remaining residents of the institution, will probably enter a group home.

Years After High School, It's Prom Night

So proud of our staff in New Jersey and Rockland County for creating a prom for more than 100 of our guys. 

Even without glass slippers and horse-drawn carriages, last week’s first ever Westwood-based prom for the developmentally disabled would have been enough to make Cinderella swoon.

Afrah Nyatome, a NIPD/NJ staff
member, joins Christopher Bovee at
the prom.

"When talking to our clients about past life experiences, quite a few of them expressed sadness at never being able to go to prom when they were in high school," said Afrah Nyatome, an assistant supervisor at the Westwood supervised apartments for NIPD-NJ.

Against All Odds, Couple Finds Joy

When you pitch stories like these and the journalist gets it, there's no better feeling. Knew as soon as I spoke with the couple on Monday night, that they would be great!

SUFFERN, N.Y. — He helps her put on her coat, opens the door for her, and cooks their meals almost every night. She does the dishes, makes his favorite cheesecake from scratch, and suffers watching wrestling on television only because he loves it.

Michael and Laurie Zeilberger, both 51, have been married 17 years and recently passed a big milestone in their lives — they paid off the mortgage on their one-bedroom condo. Both have held stable jobs for more than two decades and he has nursed her through poor health.

Such a loving and durable marriage would be an accomplishment for many couples. It’s especially remarkable for the Zeilbergers because both have learning disabilities.

“We want to be married like other people are married for 50, 60 years,” said Laurie. “It may be harder for us but we want to try.”

Weathering Sandy

Busy day at YAI, our CEO Stephen Freeman joined NYS Commissioner Courtney Burke of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities on CBS This Morning on a story about how this week's storm impacted people with disabilities and the staff who have worked around the clock to ensure these individuals are safe and secure.

Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc in the Northeast this week, and while many residents faced hardship, New York and New Jersey's disabled community faced the storm as one of the most vulnerable segments of society.
Thousands of developmentally disabled people faced power outages and food shortages and their caregivers sacrifices their own needs in order to see the disabled through the storm.

22 Years Later, Time to Get Serious About Jobs

Proud to share a post by our CEO Stephen Freeman, which appears on Huffington Post.

Why is the workplace still inaccessible to so many people with disabilities 22 years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act?
This bipartisan legislation held so much promise. Its authors and those of us in the field had visions of doors to employment flying open for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, that promise has only been partially realized. Employment for people with disabilities is lower today than it was before the passage of the ADA. As of June 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 32 percent of working age people with disabilities were in the labor force, and only about 27.6 percent were actually working.
Despite the statistics, I am hopeful that we are finally ready to get serious about the power of people with disabilities to enrich the workplace.