Ohio Mom Suing YMCA for Excluding Its Poster Child From Summer Camp

It's a battle for integration, but race is not the issue.

Steven Heffron

An Ohio mother is suing a YMCA she says won't accept her son into its general summer program, only offering the boy with Down syndrome a spot in its camp for kids with disabilities.In addition to refusing to make reasonable accommodations for 6-year-old Steven Heffron, the Great Miami Valley YMCA uses him "as a poster child for its programs with the tag lines 'Providing Opportunities for Everyone,'" the federal lawsuit, which includes photos of YMCA promotional material featuring Steven, says.

Letter: DSPs Deserve Higher Wages

Sharing a Letter to the Editor of Albany Times Union. Wish more families and individuals we support would contact their legislators at the state and federal levels about this issue. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's wage board is selectively considering a minimum wage increase to fast-food workers. The cost of this proposed mandate would be paid for by the private sector, not from the state's budget. New York currently funds direct care professionals who work for agencies that serve developmentally disabled individuals and are paid close to minimum wage. Their job is significantly more challenging and contributing to society. 

As NYS Phases Out Workshops, Agencies Seeking Alternatives for Individuals

Sheltered workshops, once considered a progressive alternative to institutionalizing the developmentally disabled, could soon be artifacts of a different era and philosophy. 

Gerard McEneaney, 56, at his
sheltered workshop.

New York State ended new admissions to sheltered workshops as of July 1, 2013, and will stop funding for them in 2020 -- the result of the state's April 2013 agreement with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Kansans Complain to Federal Panel

The state’s privatized Medicaid program is drastically cutting care to the most vulnerable residents in the state, disabled Kansans told the National Council on Disability, a federal agency that advises the president and Congress, during hours of testimony Tuesday.

Karen Bruffet of the
Kansas Dept. of Disability
and Aging Services.

Disability rights advocates joined medical care providers, federal and state officials in the Old Supreme Courtroom in the Statehouse beginning at 9:15 a.m. and lasting well into the afternoon. The council took no action Tuesday.

Inspiring Journey to World Games

New Plymouth, Idaho — She could have been just another statistic.

She could have just accepted she was one of 500,000 people in the United States with cerebral palsy.But then again, that has never been who Olivia Cline is. Cline never let her condition stop her from doing what she wants in life.

Couple Not Giving Up

After the Supreme Court ruled last week that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to same-sex marriage, the phrase “love wins” quickly hit the airwaves and social media as a testament to the fact that over everything else — even in the face of the nation’s highest court — love can prevail at the end of the day.

But for the family of one local couple who has been mired in a lawsuit with their former disability providers, the ruling came as a reminder that in the end, love has not won for them in the eyes of the law. At least not yet.About five weeks ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed an appeal that had been filed on behalf of Paul and Hava Forziano.
The original lawsuit, which garnered national attention at the time, claimed that because neither of their nonprofit caretakers gave the married couple the facilities to live together, both organizations — Independent Group Home Living and Maryhaven — as well as the commissioner of the New York State Office of Persons with Developmental Disabilities discriminated against them under several statutes, including the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act. The case was dismissed last March by U.S. Eastern District Court of New York Judge Leonard Wexler.

De Blasio Declares July Disability Pride Month in Honor of ADA Anniversary

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, Mayor de Blasio is declaring July as “Disability Pride Month” and hosting a parade to commemorate the landmark legislation.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin will serve
as grand marshal of NYC's parade.