In The News

Man Accuses NYPD Of Taking His Wheelchair & Leaving Him On Dirty Holding Cell Floor

NEW YORK (WABC)- Danilelle  Leigh October 19, 2018

A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court is accusing the New York Police Department of violating the human rights of people with disabilities.
abc7ny investigative report

October 4, 2018: DRNY’s Tim Clune on proposed ADA changes
By TIM WILLIAMS | Published October 4, 2018

Accessibility In polling Places Coming Up Short
By Capital Tonight Staff   July 25, 2018​

​Polling places in New York are still coming up short on accessibility, according to a report from Disability Rights New York.

The group looked at polling sites in New York City and in Erie and Wyoming Counties to make sure the stations were set up so a disabled person would be able to vote with full privacy.

92 percent of the Erie County locations did not meet the standards, and 100 percent of the sites in Wyoming had issues.

Here to talk more about the problem and how to fix it, is DRNY Executive Director Tim Clune.
Spectrum News Interview

Five Years In, Critics Say NY Agency Offers Little Justice For Disabled
By Bethany Bump, July 23, 2018

ALBANY — Over a recent three-year period, 10,117 vulnerable New Yorkers died while in state care or the care of a program overseen by the state.

They were loved ones with intellectual or physical disabilities, forgotten souls battling addiction, troubled children and teens, and adults who bore the weight of mental illness.

In 287 of those deaths, an allegation of abuse or neglect at the hand of a caretaker, employee or authority figure was reported and subsequently investigated. In at least 140 of those, the state Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs determined abuse or neglect likely occurred.

Not A Single Criminal Charge Was Brought In Response.

It's this track record — documented in annual reports to the governor and legislature from 2015 to 2017 — that has kept lawmakers and advocates questioning the investigative agency's willingness to hold wrongdoers accountable over the five years since it was created.
Full Article

Report: Bellevue Restrains Mentally Ill Patients Excessively & Erratically
By Ben Hattem, Gothamist.com Nov. 28, 2016

Lawyers from a watchdog agency and the state Mental Hygiene Legal Service say they've found that patients on the psychiatric units at Bellevue hospital in Manhattan are physically restrained and forcibly injected with sedatives at dramatically higher rates than patients at other public hospitals in the city. They also found that the hospital allegedly under-reports these incidents, in apparent violation of state policy directives and federal law.
Full Story

The Justice Center Is Failing To Protect People With Disabilities- DRNY Calls For Reforms

The Justice Center has failed at its core mission, which is to protect individuals with disabilities.  It is now apparent that structural reforms are needed to remedy the problems and ensure that the Justice Center provides the essential protections it was intended to give to those who need it most.  Read the DRNY Press Release for more: Justice Center

DRNY Wins Northeast Parent And Child Society Case

DRNY won its case against Northeast Parent and Child Society! The decision reaffirmed DRNY’s right to access to the facility and the residents to monitor and investigate allegations of abuse and neglect. Please read two recent articles from the Washington TImes and Albany Times Union regarding the decision from the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Times Union Disability group wins fight to enter Schenectady facility
Washington Times NY group home operator sued in probes of alleged abuse

A.G. Schneiderman  Announces Agreement To  Dismantle School To Prision Pipeline In Albany Schools

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced an agreement today with the City School District of Albany to ensure that the District’s discipline policies and practices do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin or disability status.  With this Agreement, both the Attorney General and the City School District of Albany reaffirm their commitment to fostering safe and effective school climates.
Agreement to DisMantle School to Prison Pipeline in Albany Schools

DRNY Finds Fault With State's Death Investigation

Associated Press Reports on DRNY's Investigation of the Death Investigation. 
Handling of Disabled Teen's Death in NY State Care Blasted

DRNY Investigative Report: The Death Of M.H.

DRNY's conducted an investigation of the death of an individual with intellectual and developmental disability.DRNY released a report of its investigation of the death of M.H., who lived in Saint Dominic’s Home, Dominican Hall (“SDH”), a New York Intermediate Care Facility for people with developmental disabilities. DRNY’s investigation concluded that M.H. was seriously neglected in the months preceding his death, causing him great suffering and likely contributing to his death.  New York State’s investigation of the matter by its Justice Center for Protection of People with Special Needs (Justice Center) was seriously deficient.  Despite overwhelming evidence of neglect, the Justice Center inexplicably failed to find that M.H. was neglected and completely failed to remedy the systemic problems that caused the neglect. 
Press Release Investigative Report

DRNY Testifies Before A Senate Hearing In Buffalo Regarding Sheltered Workshops

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a plan to phase out sheltered workshops to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that ensures everyone the right to work in an integrated setting. Jennifer Monthie, Esq. of DRNY, appeared at a public hearing at the University of Buffalo's Center for Tomorrow as a speaker and supporter of competitive employment for individuals with disabilities.
Hearing on Sheltered Workshops
DRNY's Jennifer Monthie's, Esq., entire Public Testimony

Federal Department of Justice Interested In North Colonie School Case

Department of Justice files a Statement of Interest supporting DRNY's authority in the North Colonie School Case.  
North Colonie School Case

Department Of Justice Files Statement Of Interest In DRNY V. North Colonie Board Of Education, Et Al.

A Statement of Interest was filed in DRNY v. North Colonie that argues that the PAIMI Act should be enforced to protect students with mental illness from abuse or neglect in public schools.
Statement of Interest Article

New York State Ending Admissions To Sheltered Workshops

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.
Sheltered Workshops Article

DRNY Finds Fault With Program At Ferncliff Manor, School For Adaptive And Integrated Learning

DRNY conducted an investigation of at Ferncliff Manor, School for Adaptive and Integrated Learning and issued a preliminary report.
Ferncliff Article

DRNY Appears On "Capitol Pressroom"

DRNY participated in the broadcast.
Full details of the Capitol Pressroom

Capitol Pressroom host Susan Arbetter led a one-hour show on Sunmount, a facility which cares for individuals with intellectual disabilities in Tupper Lake, New York to shed more light on recent occurrences at Sunmount.  

NYC DOC Allegedly Withholds Records On Violence Against Developmentally Disabled Juvenile Inmate

DRNY filed a lawsuit on March 12th in the Eastern District of New York claims the New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) withheld important records from a federally-mandated disability advocate after they learned guards had brutally attacked a developmentally disabled juvenile inmate at the Robert N. Davoren Complex on Rikers Island.
DOC Article

State Reviewing North Colonie School Program

Amid an ongoing federal lawsuit by DRNY over the treatment of students with disabilities, the North Colonie school district is coming under review by the state. 
North Colonie Article

Special Education Task Force Event

The Special Ed Task Force recently offered a forum on a proposal in the Governor’s budget bill that would set up a procedure where schools could seek a wavier of certain State special ed requirements. The Southern Tier Task Force held its forum which was covered by local media.
New 12 coverage

Advocacy Group Fights District

DRNY, an advocacy group charged with safeguarding disabled New Yorkers is locked in legal combat with the North Colonie school district over whether the group should be allowed to investigate allegations that special education students suffered abuse and neglect in their elementary school.
North Colonie Article

Disability Rights Advocates Speak To Students About Institutional Abuse And Torture In America

Two disability rights attorneys and an institutional abuse survivor participated in a panel discussion entitled “Human Rights Aren’t For Us: Disability & Legalized Abuse,” the third in Lydia Brown‘s (COL ’15) Lecture & Performance Series on Disability Justice that is being held and sponsored by various University and external organizations throughout the academic year
Institutional Abuse Article

Bullying Prevention Conference

Orange was the color to wear at the Bruce M. Wright Memorial Conference Center as dozens gathered at a bullying prevention conference sponsored by the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living and presented by DRNY.
Bullying Prevention Conference

DRNY Warns Mechanicville On Access For Disabled

DRNY threatened to take legal action against the city if it does not develop a plan within 100 days to fix its sidewalks, create and fix curb cuts and install signs so people with disabilities have equal access to the downtown business district.
Mechanicville Access