Photo Courtesy of Councilwoman Ariola
Councilwoman Ariola toured Alphapointe’s Richmond Hill facility last week.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams, the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD), the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), and NYC Health + Hospitals/Test & Treat Corps (H+H/T2) on Tuesday announced that the City will distribute 10,000 COVID-19 at-home test kits that are more accessible to New Yorkers that are blind or have low vision. The at-home test kits — manufactured by Ellume and sent to the Big Apple by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — utilize easier-to-use test components for those who are blind or have low vision and communicate with a user’s smartphone to give an electronic text readout of their result.
More accessible test kits will be distributed in the coming weeks and will be available through MOPD and a host of additional partner organizations.
According to an analysis from New York City Department of City Planning, there are approximately 1 million people across the city that have disclosed having some type of disability, of whom about 200,000 reported having vision difficulty. The Ellume at-home test kits were initially made available to people by the federal government through a White House initiative where individuals could order 12 at-home tests online. Through advocacy from the Mayor’s Office, the CDC sent these at-home test kits directly to New York City. In a robust effort to make at-home COVID-19 tests readily available to every person and community in New York City, the Adams administration will continue to explore avenues for procurement of additional test kits to serve the blind/low-vision community and all New Yorkers.
Along with MOPD, organizations receiving the COVID-19 test kits will be:
- Alphapointe (Richmond Hill)
- Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled
- Bronx Independent Living Services
- Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York
- Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School
- Helen Keller Services for the Blind
- Independence Care System
- Lighthouse Guild
- New York Public Library – Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library
- New York State Office of Children and Family Services Commission for the Blind
- State University of New York College of Optometry
- VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
“As we move into the post-COVID world, it’s important that we provide testing to all New Yorkers so we can avoid any re-emergence of the virus in the future. Blind and low vision New Yorkers have been at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to at-home testing throughout the pandemic, but this new deployment of testing kits will seek to rectify that and provide some real equity to a group that is often forgotten or overlooked. By providing everyone with accurate testing kits, we can further drive down COVID numbers and continue our march into a world in which the virus is not the omnipotent threat it was only one year ago,” said City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park).
To request an accessible at-home test kit, New Yorkers should contact one of the receiving organizations or MOPD by calling 212-788-2830. New Yorkers who are deaf or hard of hearing and use American Sign Language should contact MOPD via ASL Direct at 646-396-5830.
