Photo: MOPD Commissioner, and Ozone Park native, Victor Calise. File Photo
Citing the 24th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Mayor Bill de Blasio last week issued a proclamation declaring July “Disability Pride Month.”
De Blasio and Victor Calise, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, announced a series of events and programming to commemorate the ADA, including the inaugural NYC Disability Pride Parade and the debut of the first-ever museum exhibit on the city’s Disability Rights Movement, which opened last Monday at the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Calise, an Ozone Park product who earned degrees from St. John’s University and Queens College, has been MOPD commissioner since former Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him to the post in 2012. He thanked de Blasio for “making New Yorkers with disabilities a priority, and taking unprecedented strides toward supporting and celebrating the community.”
“This is the mission of New York City’s Disability Rights Movement: to change the city’s human environment so that everyone has access, and to open people’s minds so that everyone has an opportunity to seek achievement, prosperity and fulfillment,” Calise continued. “This mission informed the national coalition that brought the Americans with Disabilities Act into being 25 years ago, and it will continue to inform our advocacy not just in July, but every month of the year.”
Passed by Congress in 1990, the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities, according to the federal Department of Labor. It also establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services.
Throughout the inaugural Pride month, the city will host a series of events, including the first ever NYC Disability Pride Parade to be held on Sunday, July 12. The parade and rally, hosted by MOPD, will feature speakers, musicians and entertainers, and is designed to celebrate and honor the diverse disability community and the accomplishments of those within it. Former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, the architect of the ADA, will be the grand marshal of the parade.
Other Disability Pride Month events include the month-long City University of New York Educational Lecture Series: CUNY will host a series of lectures, discussions and events focused on key issues related to disability—employment, women’s health, technology, dance, film, and community engagement—during which hosts and guests will discuss the issues, develop resolutions and plan for future improvement. CUNY will collaborate with other local institutions on the events, which will run throughout the month of July at various locations around the city.
“We are proud and honored to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the ADA with fellow New Yorkers,” said James Weisman, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the United Spinal Association. “Since the end of World War II United Spinal Association has advocated for access, inclusion and community living. Much is left to be done but the world is definitely a better place because of the ADA and the work of advocates with disabilities. Thanks to all who acknowledge the needs and support the rights of the disability community.”
Adaptive Sports and Recreation Activities: In collaboration with the Parks Department, the City will host adaptive activities throughout the month at city Parks in all five boroughs.
The ADA Legacy Tour: On July 13 and 14, the ADA Legacy Tour—which, according to the administration, has been making stops across the country since it kicked off its national, year-long tour to raise awareness and celebrate the 25th anniversary—will be visiting Borough Halls in Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. The Tour features the “Road to Freedom” ADA Bus, which traveled to 48 states in 2007 to raise support for the ADA Amendments Act. The bus is driven by veteran disability rights photographer Tom Olin and brings with it displays on the preservation of disability history, celebrations of disability history milestones, and efforts to educate future generations of disability advocates.
The ADA Sapolin Awards: de Blasio and Calise will host the ADA Sapolin Awards, a yearly celebration of the ADA during which the mayor gives awards to individuals and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of accessibility and inclusion. The awards are named in honor of the late Matthew Sapolin, former MOPD commissioner who Calise succeeded.
For more information, visit nyc.gov/html/mopd/ada25nyc/html/home/home.shtml.
By Michael V. Cusenza
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
