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Tag Archives: disabilities

Real Life is a Crazy Place to Live

03 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by CricketDiane in Activism, Activism, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Learning, How To, Online Resourcing, New Technology, Adaptive Living Tools and Compensating Strategies, Civil Rights, cricket diane, Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, Democracy

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after the fire destroyed, Art, Artist, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, design, designer, disabilities, disability rights, homeless, homelessness, Inventing, new art, new design, new york city, NYC, poverty, Real-life, sculpture, Staten Island, studio

This was the first post made on the new blog for CricketDiane and Cricket House Studios but I’m moving it over to this blog instead because the new blog is going to have other kinds of information on it and this is more personal.

What I wrote a few days ago –

Real life is crazy – that is what is crazy. I’m sleeping on a neighbor’s living room floor. Nobody will take a Section 8 voucher which I have and is still good for about four more weeks and they probably wouldn’t rent to me anyway because I found out yesterday, my credit score is now 74 (since the fire.) Utilities continued charging me after the fire until the final fire incident report could be given to them that only came about a week and a half ago.

My daughters had a GoFundMe campaign which included only them after they lived in my house for nearly three years with my paying all the bills from my limited money and supported them and their children along with doing most of the housework and watching their children far too much of the time. The Senators office in Staten Island that was supposed to reimburse us for staying extra days in the hotel room after the fire while they were supposedly trying to get reasonable accommodation for me – didn’t reimburse us and didn’t get any reasonable accommodation for me from HPD either.

All the resources from HPD (Housing Preservation and Development) that should be available to me aren’t – because they won’t make any reasonable accommodation to me so that I can be where I know and am familiar with the physical space and people and environment. One neighbor put me out of her house after three weeks to keep from me having any rights as a “tenant” in housing court just in case that ever might be something I would do which meant I slept outside in the yard of the abandoned house next door to hers one night and half of the things donated to us are ruined still sitting there at that yard next door to her house.

Another neighbor up the hill is charging me $150 a month plus $20 for electric to sleep on her living room floor with some of my things lining one wall in tubs and crates (things people have donated or I’ve bought since the fire because nothing was recoverable from the fire. ArtLab gave me a scholarship to take a clay class plus sponsored a bag of clay for me to use and each Monday, I’ve been going there to create in clay and have made four pieces – three pretty good ones and one ugly one that probably needs to be thrown away.

My daughters have scattered and are not here “helping” me although I’m not sure how much help they would be anyway since things are so confusing and extremely expensive from bus fare to having to run all over the place and get things done including replacing IDs and trying to find a place to live and getting something to eat. And, getting the final fire incident report to all the utilities and cable service so they’ll stop charging us for a house that is burned down.

The problem is, that because of head injury and PTSD from domestic violence years ago, if I don’t stay where I already know, especially after this extreme traumatic event, I could very likely lose most or even, all of my ability to function. Being able to walk, talk, know my name, understand where I am, write, find my own ass with both hands, know to wipe it myself, understand what I’m hearing and seeing, know where I’m waking up and why I’m there – are freedoms I don’t want to lose on top of losing my home and everything I’ve worked on for the last 32 years that were destroyed by the fire.

It isn’t very likely that I will ever make lots of money because I never remember what all I know and what all I can do. That is a definite drawback of head injury. People around me will say how long they’ve been in business or been doing something – I know somewhere in my mind that it has been a very long time that I’ve been doing whatever it is – but unless I really sit down and take a couple hours to figure it out – I don’t know. I was doing it yesterday – so it has been a while. And, I had always thought that if I’m good at it, then it doesn’t matter how long I’ve been doing it – whether it is forty-five years or two. But, there isn’t a practical way for me to tell anyone as I’m standing there with them, that there are good reasons that I know what I’m doing in art or sculpture or the business of product design or inventing things or writing or computer stuff or anything.

CricketDiane 2016 Autumn Bowl sculpture art in clay

Clay pottery sculpture art called Autumn Bowl by CricketDiane Artist / Designer 2016

When one of my clay pieces that I sculpted was being brought from ArtLab to where I’m staying, I stopped off at a little book cafe where a lot of people know me. One of the men saw the piece and tapped it with his keys – an extraordinary clay pottery piece with beautiful glazes and sculpted with leaves on one side of it, a large bowl-like vase for a table centerpiece to hold fall and Christmas flowers. But no, it couldn’t be real art because he knows I’m homeless and has never seen my art. This is ridiculous to an extreme.

I travel up and down the hill of Benziger Ave. where my house burned down with a thirty-lb. plus backpack on my back pulling a small rolling suitcase with my computer in it and my purse slung across its top by the handle every day going to these places. For the past month and a half, every time I’m going out – that is how I look because I can’t leave the computer here and if I was going to use the internet, up until a few days ago, I had to go somewhere else to use it – the ferry terminal or the cafe book store.

The libraries would not let me in because of the rolling cart I had to begin with and then because of the rolling bag that has my computer in it because they decided not to let those things in the library to keep homeless people from coming into the library. Anyway, it has meant that I couldn’t use the internet at the library or the resources at the library during this entire time. About two weeks ago, I hid my computer in this living room space and walked the half-mile to the library without it so I could check out some videos. There was no way to stay the forty-five minutes that the library lets me use their laptops and get online because my computer couldn’t be safe that long where I stay so I had to go back with a few videos in hand to watch.

At the ferry terminal where there is free wifi, it requires spreading my computer and extra keyboard and file folders on the floor over by the windows to do it, because it has been too cold and windy to do it outside where there are seating areas to spread it out. I don’t think the ferry terminal was intended to be any real place to use the wifi they offer, it isn’t practical in any sense of using it except for a quick phone thing which is probably what they meant for it. But I did it anyway a few times, with my things spread across the floor by the windows out of the way of where people were waiting for or getting on the ferry. That was interesting.

I’ve also made a couple trips down to the HackManhattan makers space over the past couple months because the Makers Space in Staten Island charges $250 a month and refused to allow me to trade any time with my skills helping them for time in the makers space. They also weren’t interested in the list of classes that I said I could teach which could have been a bit of money to me for this time that has been so impossible financially and in every other way. The same was true for the nearby Temple of the Arts, where they let me stuff envelopes for a few dollars but have no interest in the classes that I could teach from sewing to piano to art to computer skills. As much as it would help people in these areas and in Staten Island to have what I know how to do available to them, it downright doesn’t matter because the resources that could make it possible are very closed to me by the people who have them.

Since the internet service finally got sorted out and they let me have it here, I’ve been able to create a few products over on Zazzle which are now the only remaining archive of my work since all the digital files, photographs of them, hard drives with the files of them and computers were destroyed by the fire. I’ve also worked on this new blog a little but it has been really hard to gather any thoughts about what to put on it and finally I have given up and put this for lack of a better idea. I really want to add the structural materials libraries that I love and things more in line with creating and inventing – but no, the confusing things around me are too much to get focused and there is no chance I’ll have a home out of all this or an office or a studio or in fact, have any money to do anything at all with from my efforts.

Steel Grey Designer Trendy Contemporary Geometric Throw Pillow

Steel Grey Designer Trendy Contemporary Geometric Throw Pillow

by CricketDiane

There are also six new video clips that I loaded onto my YouTube channels a couple days ago. They aren’t wonderful, but they are appropriate to the current situation. And, hopefully, I can add some content soon that isn’t about my personal difficulties butt is instead something about painting, creating, making, inventing, doing business online, materials, resourcing, or any number of other nifty things I know a lot about – including some great valuable content among all of it.

That’s it – I’m tired of talking about it now except for this – among the fifty million things that are wrong right now, I am thankful and have great admiration for the many, many people who have helped me, are helping me, have extended the hand of friendship to me, have let me lay my head in their homes, have given me a computer and shoes for my feet, sent me a bit of money to buy food, taken a moment to say hello and give me hugs. Despite everything that has happened, I can say I’ve survived it thus far because of these things and they have kept me going and kept me demanding of myself that I not quit even when things seem so terrible and they are. It is amazing to see that I can write after all this and as that is not something small in my world – for that I’m also very grateful.

  • cricketdiane, 11-27-16

**

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I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT NOBODY CARES BUT > > > says everybody I know, but they should

24 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

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Tags

ADA, brain injury, Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, cricketdiane, disabilities, disability, disability issues, disability rights, homelessness, Human Rights, inequality, New York, new york city, New York state, News, news events, news tips, NY, NYC, nys, poverty, ptsd, Staten Island, Staten Island 6 alarm fire, Staten Island fire, survivors, US Constitution

Would anyone care about those things in America as we fight for our freedom from poverty in a city whose basic and possibly legitimate desire is to price us out of existence, neglect us, or use our lives’ facts as a basis to derive their own employment income and profits while denying us services? Would they like knowing about it at all?

Would it be newsworthy that one of the families of those that lost everything in recent Staten Island 6-alarm fire on Aug. 18, 2016 (last Thursday) is made up of three women who were in the neighborhood less than a year? who were on a Section 8 Voucher and foodstamps and SSI, but working to build a business, one going to college, and one working to be a freelance photographer and journalist? And survivors of domestic violence, brain injury and PTSD, with a lot of homemade strategies and common sense tools to overcome those disabilities, many of which are now lost?

SI 6 Alarm Fire Victim Phillips Family is about to cost the city of New York about $9,000 a month plus services

NYC through ineptitude, irresponsible use of policies and resources, ignorance of the ADA and other disabilities rights laws and innapropriate application of policies and improper application of Congressional and State Legislature directives for handling homeless individuals, disabled persons and others of our most vulnerable populations is about to inadvertently cost themselves and other State resources over $9,000 a month in shelter costs plus other administrative costs, other services and specialized service costs plus all meals, and cash assistance to our family when it isn’t the ONLY wasy to do it? And is actually illegal to force us or even try to force us to try and do it against our best interests, against our basic welfare and against our basic human rights as American citizens? Did you know that? Did you know we could help NYC decision-makers by using our story as an example of how people in our city are being more defrauded by this agency ineptitude of policy making than all fraud of any kind across the entire state being perpetrated by poor people, people with disabilities, elderly or young single mothers with children who are often claimed as the scapegoats for America’s problems? Are you tired of hearing sad sack tales and would like to tell America something else that is interesting, elegant and wonderful and all so horrible all at the same time? Would they / and you, be interested?

08-24-16 2.46 am, Hilton Garden Hotel, Staten Island, NY, NY,

Author – CricketDiane 2016, Diane C. Phillips

**

 

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Writing to US Dept of Justice Today

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by CricketDiane in Activism, Activism, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Learning, How To, Online Resourcing, New Technology, Adaptive Living Tools and Compensating Strategies, Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips, Human Rights

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ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, Civil Rights, cricketdiane, Department of Justice, diane c phillips, disabilities, disability, disability rights, equality, Human Rights, inequality, injustice, new york city, NYC, rights, SI fire, Staten Island fire

Today HPD (Housing Preservation & Development) in NYC demanded proof that I have disabilities. My house burned down to an unrecoverable state last Thursday. Red Cross gave me & my family a letter to give HPD about it. They were supposed to help us get permanent housing and our Senators here are helping to bring that about, Sen. Savino and Sen. Watson.

There were four families sent to HPD with us. We were all supposed to be expedited into permanent housing. I have SSI and NYCHA Section 8 from the house that burned down. HPD had been supposed to waive req. for id forms of usual because we had them in the house.

HPD (NYC) demanded the same forms of id as for any other situation – which we had gotten from the computer at the hotel for the SSI award letter and all the docs we could find online. HPD kept all of us waiting for over three hours with all our children in tow in a very small noisy waiting room, then told my family that we were to go to the family shelter, as they told the other four families whose homes burned next to ours.

I said that wouldn’t work for me because of my disabilities, brain injury and PTSD from domestic violence. I said that it was already too much overwhelming information, they had us come from Staten Island to the HPD office in person, wait with my daughters and grandchildren over 3 hrs, added more stress and difficulty already and I couldn’t afford to be in another place that I don’t know, don’t understand with so many people and things I would not be able to understand and that I didn’t want to end up like a retarded person drooling on myself because my brain would shut down with that much more stress.

He asked me if I had proof of my disability (insisted several times, not just once) and denied that he had proof despite the fact he had written down that I have SSI for my disability and a Section 8 Voucher to have a place to live because of these disabilities not allowing me to do better for myself yet.

I don’t understand, am I supposed to have a disability tattoo, a disability set of papers like a thoroughbred dog gets to prove l have rights to services and accommodation as a disabled person, even though SSI is obvious proof that I have a disability. HPD works with domestic violence survivors (often with children and young children) and people displaced by fire or flood for expedited fair housing appropriate to their unique and particularly specific needs. Is this how they are treating everyone in our most vulnerable populations when they are most stressed out, most emotionally distraught and while they are undergoing some of the most massive and unexpected difficulties in their lives – and in mine. I’ve lost everything.

My family has lost everything. The other families who came in about an hour after we did, but are our neighbors, lost everything, or very nearly everything. Why would this man who was supposed to be helping me, ask me for proof of a verified, way more than well certified disability and then deny me and my family any option of permanent housing of any kind PLUS demand I show proof of my disability as if it is required of me?

And I said he could look it up, that I was willing to give my permission for him to see my entire case file at SSI, if that would help him to decide whether I have disabilities or not and he said he couldn’t do that. Oh yes he can. I could’ve signed a form and he could’ve looked it up through SEction 8 which HPD is directly connected to or called SSI to confirm it, after I signed such a paper although getting SSI is a pretty good proof all by itself. I was shocked and hurt and offended and disgusted that he probably does this to all the disabled people, elderly & survivors of domestic violence he and the HPD ofc is supposed to be helping.

Please fix this. They can’t do this to people. I didn’t deserve it and they don’t either. We did not go to the shelter. I don’t want to be in a mental hospital because even one more drop of difficulty is added to this already impossible, emotionally devastating situation

08-23-2016 US Dept of Justice ADA Complaint Form – CricketDiane, Diane C. Phillips 2016.

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House Burned to Ashes Racism Alive and Well in America

20 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by CricketDiane in Activism, Activism, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Learning, How To, Online Resourcing, New Technology, United States of America, US At Home - Domestic Policy, US Bill of Rights, US Constitution, US Declaration of Independence

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black issues, common sense, cricketdiane, dignity, disabilities, disability, equal rights, equality, Human Rights, humanity, intolerance, kindness, love, race issues, racism, sexism, Tolerance, USA, white issues

Our rental house burned down yesterday. You can see it on the news. It was hard watching that standing on the street in front of our house with all of my artwork, references, research, inventions, writings, 3×5 cards of years of notes toward blog posts and prototypes, music making keyboards and music, sculptures, business paperwork, backup digital files, photographs, computers, laptops, printer, cameras, projector, art supplies, oil paints, watercolors – children’s toys, clothes, furniture – but most of all, my Legos – as it all burned down in the house.

That said, we were a white family living in a mixed, but predominantly black neighborhood of lower income means in Staten Island. And, as I sat on the sidewalk with three of my grandchildren, watching our house and over 30 yrs of work burn to the ground that I had brought to New York City from Georgia, I couldn’t help but notice that people we did not know, cared about us and that it didn’t matter to most of them that our skin is white.

We had left without any shoes, families from around the neighborhood gave some of their own children’s shoes, so our children could have shoes (and socks) to put on, with a lot of the sidewalks covered in glass – oh my god, I don’t even want to think about it. Someone brought us a cloth shopping bag with juice and cups and bottles of water. Someone else bought a pizza and some dinner for us, some yogurt, plates of rice and pasties. I don’t think we ever got to even thank anyone properly, but their generosity is beyond all words that I can express.

And yet, racism is alive and well in America every single day. My neighbors are pushed to think that way about me as a white person, and from a multitude of sources, my family and I are pushed to think that way about every race, and religion, and difference anyone might have from us.

It so happens, that I am disabled. Frankly, I’ll talk about it if I can’t get around doing it, but most of the time, I’d rather not talk about it. I do know what it is like when everyone, white black orange and in between discriminates against someone, because it has often been me that was the someone at the receiving end of that discrimination – and no one seems to think that it is not okay to be prejudiced and discriminate against a person with disabilities for some reason, but that has been my experience with it. In fact, it almost seems that everyone finds it “understandable” and agree with it being okay to be shitty or to do shitty things to anybody with any disability, when I’m being discriminated against or treated as less than because of my disabilities.

But last night, as I continued to sit on the sidewalk up the hill a ways from my house where the police told me to stay until the Fire Marshall cleared the scene and the Red Cross came, one of my daughters sent her sunglasses for me to wear because the fire trucks flashing lights had become strobes of danger that could case a seizure to me – AND NOBODY ASKED ME WHY I WANTED TO WEAR SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT! How about that. Isn’t that amazing? Nobody said any snide remarks about me trying to be a rock star or demanded that I explain why I needed to wear sunglasses at night to their satisfaction in order to receive the real freedom to wear them. Nobody asked me if there was something wrong.

People all day and all night came by and asked how we were doing and if we needed anything – which I wasn’t much help answering. Someone came that my daughter sent over to walk me to where someone else had agreed to keep the children in their house and watch them. The person helped me find my way, to step through and around and over to get to the block next over where there weren’t any flashing lights or watching the burning houses anymore or seeing the firemen sickened and overcome by the noxious fumes and heat of it all – which upset me more than words can describe.

I had been on twitter just before discovering the fire next door to us across only inches from the eaves of our house when I had to scream out, get out, get out now and grabbing the children to get out of the house and to the other side of the street because embers were raining down on us from next door and our roof had already begun its lapping tongues of fire.

I had been accused on twitter by a Trump supporter of being a racist against white people in response to something I said which was (paraphrased), it isn’t right to use my white race as an excuse for their racism, sexism, intolerance and bigotry. That is the truth. Bigotry was, at one time, tolerated – it still wasn’t right. And, it isn’t right now. People make a choice to be racist, bigoted, sexist, discriminatory, prejudiced.

It isn’t because a person is white that they are racist. It is because they have proclaimed the right to be racist and proudly made a choice to do so despite knowing it is wrong. It isn’t because a person doesn’t know any better in this day and age, they are making a choice to be racist, intolerant, sexist, or engage in whatever basis of intolerance they’ve decided they like for whatever reason they like. So, don’t tell me people are racist because they are white, or because they claim they are standing up for white people – because that is bullshit. “They” don’t speak for all white people. And the same thing is true for people who say all black people are racist against white people, or Mexican people, or foreigners, or Asians. That is bullshit too.

The other part of choice is responsibility and here is the part that is missing. When a person or group of people choose to be racist or sexist or excuse their intolerance of others using race or gender or religion as that excuse, the person choosing to be that way and act on it is responsible for it. And that kind of thinking has way too much cost and very little positive return to show for it.

Maybe everyone in our neighborhood where we had not lived an entire year when our home, our business and our studio burned down yesterday all in one fell swoop, saw us sometimes around the neighborhood going to the store or getting on the bus or sitting on the porch with neighbors talking.

And maybe they hated us and anyone else in a five block radius who was there and white at the same time – maybe. Maybe they thought we were privileged whites with whatever connotations that could bring with it. Maybe.

BUT the one thing our neighbors did that was different than that “narrative” which may have been thrust upon them by many, many things and many, many experiences – was to set it aside and meet us as human beings with the grace of God’s outstretched hand helping in a time of need beyond all measure of basic human compassion. AND, it was amazing!

When people can look me in the eyes and say, are you alright? – and it not just be the words you are supposed to say, but really genuine, I can hear it, you can year it, anyone can hear it. It is the truth, that in that one moment two human beings saw one another genuinely, spoke honestly, cared in a way beyond themselves, used common sense and shared human decency in a real way, and then there was a touch of LOVE that sparkled in that moment between them.

– cricketdiane
08-20-16
(Apologies if I didn’t say this right – but it is the best I can do with what I’m thinking right now about everything.)

**

Massive Staten Island fire destroys three houses; 17 firefighters among the 21 injured

Massive Staten Island fire destroys three houses; 17 firefighters among …
New York Daily News · 18 hours ago

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fdny-battles-fire-ripped-staten-island-houses-article-1.2757169

A raging fire tore through a crowded Staten Island block Thursday night, laying waste to three houses and damaging four more. Flaming debris poured …
.

FDNY: Children Playing With Matches Cause Of Staten Island Fire

FDNY: Children Playing With Matches Cause Of Staten Island Fire
CBS New York · 2 hours ago

FDNY: Children Playing With Matches Cause Of Staten Island Fire

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A massive fire that destroyed several homes and left dozens homeless on Staten Island …
.

Staten Island fire started by children playing with matches, FDNY says
Staten Island fire started by children playing with matches, FDNY says
am New York · 9 hours ago

http://www.onenewspage.com/video/20160819/5339028/Residents-Displaced-In-Staten-Island-Fire.htm

Children playing with matches sparked a six-alarm fire on Thursday that displaced 10 families and ravaged homes in the …

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If I ever needed a good lawyer – I damn sure do need one now

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

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Tags

contesting a will, cricketdiane, death, disabilities, disability rights, family, law, lawyers, legal, poverty, probate, sorrow, wills

I am in trouble and don’t know what to do – so I’m going to write about it

When my mother died a couple weeks ago and was buried last week, my daddy and sister went to the lawyers to do whatever with the will. And then, before her funeral, he demanded that I leave his house (read the last post) for throwing out my oldest daughter’s and her boyfriend’s drug stash and paraphernalia which he said was just stirring up shit with people – regardless, they couldn’t cook crystal meth and mainline any other crap for awhile after I threw it out.

And today, in New York where I live in Staten Island, I received the papers they sent about the will and the probate stuff. Back when Mom, over the years kept having me look up stuff in the law for her about the will – I told her at the time that she and Daddy needed to get a lawyer and to be more honest about their assets, among other things. But, they didn’t do that.

I’ve read the will, looked at it – and re-read some of the Georgia laws about it again tonight – but not all of them. And, regardless of what I can remember or not about it – that will is not a legal nor valid document. Neither is the packet of things they sent to me and neither is the proposed dispensation of valued assets – nor is it in any way close to what it should be.

Oh well. The trouble is that now I have to get a lawyer to represent my interest in it who is able to practice law in New York and in Georgia, and who knows Georgia law about estates and probate and wills and trusts and crap. It is impossible, and of course, I have no money – as usual.

However, the main problem with my mother’s will and her dispensation of their estate as well as having my Daddy or sister as the executor – is that a large number of valuable assets are not even approached adequately to satisfy the law. My mother hoarded valuables. She converted my Daddy’s money into a wealthy massive estate of antiques, collectibles, collections, dolls, art supplies, books, vintage memorabilia, musical instruments – some vintage and antique, etc.

To describe this hoard my mother worked at creating over forty years, maybe more – let me describe where it is and the extent to which it is housed in those places. My parents’ house has two rooms made from what had been a garage and a long closet plus an entire two long walls of shelves there which contain pieces of this valuable hoard. And then so does the laundry room, small hallway off the garage on the way to the kitchen, as does the kitchen, the entire dining room almost floor to ceiling. There are valuables spread throughout the living room in cases and shelves, as well as the same in the den. The enclosed back porch is entirely filled up to my eyes across its entire area with furniture and other valuables, as is their campers and RVs and sheds on properties they own in GA and SC.

Then along in their house in GA, is a long hallway totally filled with no more than a small pathway through the middle, but valuables tucked into dressers there and shelves and over and under and beside them as well. The two bedrooms on the front of the house hardly have room for any person to move because they too are filled nearly floor to ceiling with collectors’ dolls, vintage collectible toys, antiques, precious silver and coins and antique glass and thousands upon thousands of dollars of art supplies and gifts that were never given. Then the back master bedroom is filled floor to ceiling across its entire area as well as its closet with everything from porcelain head dolls in their boxes each of which is valued over $10 each by a long ways even on damn eBay – to cameras and vintage cameras and antique cherry wood furniture and other antiques, memorabilia, collectibles, Star Wars stuff, Batman stuff, clown collectibles stuff and precious valuables of just about every type.

And that is repeated throughout the same area as the living space – at the level of the attic, except there is no room to walk in there and throughout the entire space of the basement – which only has small areas to walk. And, there are 150 year old oak rocking chairs and 200 year old paned mahogany and oak windows and a roll top desk, among other things down there in that basement. And, as I said, there is enough porcelain molds for designer dolls with known designer names on them to actually set up an entire studio or class as well as a working kiln sitting somewhere in the basement and the entire set-up for a darkroom with all its necessary equipment which at one time had been set up in the basement for Dad.

My mother really resented the amount of time that my Daddy was away from home doing “working” and fixed him right good by converting as much of his money as she could into valuables that she could exchange for good money anytime she had done had enough of him and his “shitting on her” as she called it, although my mother’s idea of Daddy “shitting on her” could be that he didn’t call and meet her for lunch or didn’t feel like going on some weekend trip she wanted to do or just about any other petty little thing that was in her head at the time. She fixed him good. Now all that stuff would legally have to be inventoried before being given away, sold or bequeathed to anybody. It is literally money. There are advertising signs in that house which would easily be worth $1300-$2100 each. It isn’t a normal type of hoarding my mother was doing. It isn’t junk – she picked each piece carefully with the full knowledge she acquired in years around her Daddy horse-trading and trading up for valuables as well as her having owned and run an antique shop of her own on Marietta Square for a number of years.

And, then there’s stuff of mine that when I moved to New York, my parents – especially my mother demanded that I leave the best and most important of my things there in the room by the outside door in the enclosed garage where they both promised me that my things would be safe and nothing would happen to them until I could get them up to New York to my own place. But, that isn’t what happened. The Daddy I love actually told my oldest daughter to throw out what was being stored there by me, and to move it to places where it was damaged, to give away a lot of it. That included destroying and giving away the contents of a “brain in a box” tool that had taken me years to make which contained mnemonics to help me remember how to help myself, my exercises and other things that once remembered through that tool could make up for my brain injury’s continuing effects. Mom, Daddy and my oldest daughter knew what that brain in a box was for and how important it was to my well-being and continued opportunities to live independently and succeed at it. They didn’t care. That and a huge number of items that were critical to me were thrown away without warning, without asking me to come get them, without even telling me they were going to do it and without regard for me and my well-being at all. I have to sue them to even remedy it and that isn’t reasonable under the circumstances either. I have the least financial means of any of them, and yet – they act like that is free license to take, steal, destroy, harm, waste, ruin, shove me out “their way” – or just whatever. I can’t take that anymore. Its wrong. It has always been wrong.

It is really weird – for a long time, I thought I was living independently in the community in my own home, taking care of my own needs as a fully independent and competent adult despite my disabilities. I lived near enough to my parents to see them, talk to them on the phone and handled day-to-day living of my own – on my own. And, then – they kept putting me in mental hospitals every time I said something they didn’t like or was dating someone they thought I was screwing or just whatever. And, then I thought that didn’t seem right when sometimes, my parents had not seen me or talked to me for 3 months or six months or four months but talked to police and EMT’s and psychiatrists and doctors like they had seen me the day before or last week or as if I lived with them and they knew every detail of my daily life and were providing for it – as if they were helping me do every bit of it or else I was so incompetent that nothing for my own health and sustenance got done. But, that wasn’t the case – no one else was doing it except me. Often, unless they needed some help over at their house and didn’t want to pay someone to do it – they didn’t do much more than a phone call once a month from Mom to me asking me if I had eaten and who I was seeing and how much sleep I was getting. But, not to help – not helping at all. And, then occasionally they would buy $30 or $50 worth of groceries for me – maybe a couple times in a year – but to hear them tell it to our other family members or their church friends, it made it seem like they were buying all my groceries all the time, every week. It just wasn’t the case – I was walking two miles to buy my own groceries every week, except those couple times a year when all the money ran out and I asked for their help – especially when my daughters and granddaughter were at my house for a little while. But, no – apparently, they could legally step into my life and do whatever they wanted without any accountability, no call to a lawyer entitled to me, no nothing I could do about it, because according to the law – I’m their responsibility as a disabled adult with issues of mental health and brain injury – and although at one time, I had seizures, thankfully I haven’t had those for how many years now? I think it is 9 or ten years now without a seizure. And, it doesn’t matter that I was living independently in my own household because I wasn’t make my own living, neither married and I’m not a ward of the state – because I’m actually a ward of my family. It means that I must get a representative of the lawyer variety to have a voice in my mother’s will being probated and to contest it, to demand an audit of their actual assets – because besides the valuable massive hoard of collector’s goodies that are worth a fortune on the open market, there is actually stocks, bonds, savings and other accounts, two different sets of property, and no telling what else – none of which is being brought to the probate court through this document though it is part and parcel of my mother’s estate.

The whole thing is a mess. I told them to get a lawyer and handle it properly, do it right, get it done with an honest assessment of ALL of it – but no ….

But, no. And, years ago I found out that no matter where I lived or how long I lived there independently, the state considers it my family’s responsibility, particularly my parents’ responsibility since they continued to act on that by their very actions to remove my rights and have me placed in mental hospital after mental hospital even a week after one told me to go home, they forced me through police and their authority over me – into another one which kept me 5 days and then put me out and told me to go home. It is obscene.

So, now – not only am I the first in line heir as Mom and Daddy’s oldest daughter by birth, and not only did my oldest children who had been adopted by my parents choose to forego their inheritance to have their rights transferred to their Dad when they were in their teens – not only all that – I’m supposed to get up some magic money of a mass quantity to get a proper legal team to go explain it to them and challenge the nonsense in that damn will. And, to challenge the damn nonsense going on in that house from people who damn sure ought to know better – they threw out my things when I’m the least capable of sustaining that loss both emotionally, intellectually and financially – without regard. And, something has to make it clear that the way they have set up the will and the refusal to inventory any of those valuables which could easily amount to over $100,000 in quantity alone as well as value – RRRRHuhruRRRRrr!

Maybe – I could just walk away and let them answer to the IRS or who the fuck ever. And could I live with that? Could I live with getting screwed over by these people again without stopping them or standing up to them and saying, you aren’t going to do that – no more, not this time, not ever again. Daddy almost insured (at the insistence of my oldest daughter and my sister) that I would be in a mental hospital this week and next because of sending me away from his house and not allowing me to go to my mother’s funeral services and graveside. He and those two grown women knew better when they did it. They knew the money I and my homeless daughter had used to get me there and to pay for the bus to get me back home to Staten Island. They knew how much money it was and that my bills didn’t get paid and that I don’t have any other money. They knew it. And they knew I didn’t get to go to the storage unit and get my things out of that expense that I’ve been paying every month which I was supposed to do while I was there and move them up here along with the things that they insisted that I store at their house. They are cruel and without cause.

I might add that as a result of many miracles and nothing short of an act of God – I’m not sitting in a mental hospital this week, but instead sitting here in my apartment writing this post. I still don’t know where to get all this fixed or if I could live with walking away from them and never looking back, but that is probably what I should do. They are not worth it, no matter how much I love them – they are not worth all this. They just aren’t.

And, just for the record – I’m not going to get anything from my mother’s will, nor from my Daddy’s when he’s gone either no matter what anyway – because the government will simply take it and they might clawback from their estate anyway because they had the means and responsibility for caring for me and providing for my well-being the entire time since my head injury and certainly could afford to have done that. It wasn’t the state’s responsibility, nor the responsibility of the government – that actually resided with my family the entire time and they didn’t want to get into Mom’s shopping money. Oh well.

Sometimes, I think my mother just wanted to prove that I was disabled with mental illness with the intention of getting me on government programs or committed permanently into an institution which she tried to do several times using my friends and roommates – as they later told me. But I don’t know. It is really been awful having the mother I had, but I loved her and miss her and feel sorrow that I can’t see her smile or have her talk to me anymore. That is sad, more than everything else – she would call and say, Diane look up this – how much potassium is in blueberries? What was that law you were talking about the other day, where did you find it so I can tell Kim, she would say. Or whoever she was relaying it to – one thing and another – I was like the walking reference desk from the library to my family for the better part of the last twenty years and for the many years before the head injury mucked it up awhile. Anyway I miss that – but I won’t miss Mom calling me to do plumbing with Daddy. I am not a plumber.

– cricketdiane

**

Yes, it is rambling and none of what you needed or wanted to know – but I feel better having written it.

**

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Well I couldn’t help but lie about this one to my friends

20 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Americans with Disabilities Act, bullying, cricketdiane, death, disabilities, disability rights, families

When I went to Georgia because my mother was dying, I never expected to be thrown out of my family’s house two days before the funeral. It robbed me of the experience that was my right – but that doesn’t bother anybody in my family, especially my Daddy and sister. They don’t want me there “stirring up shit” as they said. Unfortunately, I told a lie to several people I know here in New York about why that was.

The truth is, my family said I was trying to take control of the situation and they had no use for that. And, beyond that – I threw away my oldest daughter’s stash of weed, pot seeds, empty liquor bottles and rig for making and mainlining crystal meth or crack cocaine, although it was probably crystal meth. I threw away sudafed type package drugs from the pharmacy that they had in the same drawer with their (my daughter and her wanted in Florida felon boyfriend) – glass syringe, spoon with blackened bottom and white encrusted powdery bowl on it, a metal stirrer looking thing that was caked with gummy charred something on one end and a butterfly looking handle on the other, their bowl of pot seeds they were apparently saving, a bottle of my mother’s narcotic pain pills they had on the shelf in their room and a gallon sized ziplock bag of assorted prescription drugs which I didn’t even check for the names on them because my daughter doesn’t and never has had that many prescriptions of anything to her name, neither has her boyfriend legally.

But, while everyone was gone – even though for two days I had warned them to remove anything and everything that they didn’t want me to see or to know about because I was going to come into that room where my belongings were stored and get them – I found their rig and their goodies and their illegal drugs and fifths of liquor emptied and piled in the room – and I threw them out. Then, I took all of their bedding and aired out the mattresses in the sunshine, febrezed them, sprayed them with Off bug repellant to get the fleas out of them from their puppy and put all of the other blankets and sheets in the laundry room for them to wash.

So, everybody hit the ceiling and came after me as starting shit and said that I was too mentally incompetent to understand and that Mama being dead had upset me and stirred up my mental illness to the point that I didn’t know to leave “their room” and “their stuff” alone. Well, I damn well did know – and I did give them every opportunity to get their stuff out of my way, but they chose not to do that. The chest of drawers they are using is mine. The room their stuff and they are in – was given to me by my Mama and Daddy with the promise that no one would be in there and that ALL – every last piece of my belongings stored there would be safe and out of harm’s way and that nothing would happen to any of it until I could get it up to New York with me. They had me put the most important and most valuable of my things there that couldn’t go on the plane with me to New York. They never said, come get your stuff out of this room because we are going to let your daughter and her boyfriend stay in there, smoke dope, cook and mainline crack or crystal meth and get sloppy violent, aggressively drunk every single night they’re here. They didn’t say that to me or to my other daughters helping me in New York to learn the space here. Oh no they didn’t. But they did have my oldest daughter stay in that room they had given me to store my things next to Mama’s ceramics and ceramic molds – which are also now trashed and nobody can use them.

And, they told her to throw away my things and the things I was bringing to New York that belonged to one of my grandchildren – everything she owned and has talked about having – as they promised her and me on the phone that she would get those things. But worst of all, they threw away and consummately destroyed a “brain in a box” mnemonic tool that was in a sectioned fishing box which had taken me years to make – and they knew that was what it was and dumped it. They didn’t even tell me they had done it. And, every Barbie hand-made piece of clothing I had made for my daughters with their entire collection of special Barbie things that they had intended to share with their own daughters and have looked forward to doing that for years. It is cruel, vicious and sadistic that they did these things to me and to my belongings, moving my most valuable books and things to the nasty hot attic and destroying others, giving away things of mine that did not belong to them and after having promised to care for them and keep them safe. They didn’t do that at all – but unless I sue them – what can I do?

And, then to rob me of the services and burial of my Mama. And to cost me going there and then back on the bus – at no expense to them – saying that if I ask for any money it is because I’m poor and trying to take advantage of them. The sister from hell of mine even accused me along with my oldest daughter of pillaging the house going through drawers to steal from them when I’m the one who up until a year and a half ago when I moved to New York was the only person allowed to go into drawers and boxes to find a highlighter pen or some piece of paper somebody was looking for. And, those were the reasons I was looking in those places this time as well. Why would I steal from my own house? It is stupid.

However, I do know that my sister is stealing from that house – besides her stealing my once in a lifetime opportunity to attend my mother’s funeral services and stole the Sunday afternoon music and fellowship in the living room that I had invited one neighbor and one of Mom’s church friends to come do to help Daddy feel better. She stole that and she is raiding for books to tear apart because my sister does eBay and has a buyer who will buy a hundred pieces of vintage book illustrations and book plates for $2 or $3 to use for her own artworks and scrapbooking. My sister sold her $200 worth one time at $2 each, so she thinks that is what to do with my mother’s entire extraordinary collection of cookbooks, art books, Aladdin book from the 1930’s and others like it, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. I am so disgusted with her and with all of them including my Daddy who damn sure knows better that I could spit nails.

So, aside from the fact that Daddy and my sister told everyone at the funeral and at the cemetery service that I had gone back to New York as if it was a choice I made with no other facts involved, they have blocked any and all calls from me to my Daddy or to my sister – won’t answer when I call, used the call block to prevent any calls from getting through and told every other one of my grown children that I am the one causing the problem and trying to take advantage of Daddy at this difficult time. They have got to be kidding – have they always been that cruel and I didn’t notice? I have a head injury and post traumatic stress disorder from domestic violence – I’m not stupid. And, I’ve worked hard to live an adequate and quality life despite those hindrances. What gives them the right to do everything they can to make my life more difficult? It is my mother that died. I am not a stranger to that house. I’ve lived nearby and come at the drop of a hat to fix anything and just about everything they’ve asked me to for over 36 years. It is ridiculous to act like I’m a nosy busybody trying to steal from them – why would I – I haven’t for 36 years many, many times a month they’ve had me come over and wash their dishes, clean out their fridge, do plumbing, vacuum, clean, organize, help with the gutters, help with the yardwork, help with the shopping and errands, help with whatthefuckever, wash clothes, mop the floor, clean the bathrooms, help go to WalMart and the grocery, make something yummy to eat, etc – also ad nauseum. Its damned ridiculous.

And, beyond all that – my oldest daughter is violent, aggressive, drunk every night and probably doing that crystal meth using the rig I found – despite her saying that she got into poison ivy and that’s why her legs, arms and face were all clawed up with welts and big red itchy sores where she was scratching them – looked just like those people in their mug shots after 3 months of doing meth or crack. That was how she looked when I first got there and she said that she drank an entire fifth of whiskey by herself that day because she wanted to “get me back” but didn’t know for what exactly. That is some twisted thinking. But I’m the one they want to have put in a mental hospital and threw out of the house for destroying the illegal drugs which would have put all of us in jail, cost us ever seeing our grandbabies again and no telling what all else.

So, I lied to my neighbors and new friends in New York. I didn’t want to tell them what a mess it is and that my oldest daughter is humping a wanted felon sitting in my family’s garage room as they engage in cooking and snorting and mainlining meth (and hopefully not heroin or crack, but who knows) and staying drunk every night. The friends and neighbors I have would have probably understood – it is way too common in families over the past twenty years at least. But still, I didn’t want to tell them, I didn’t want to know it and I didn’t want to think about the cruel and sadistic way my family handled a disabled person they claim to care about which is me. I’m really horrified at that. Truly horrified. I would have never guessed that about them but looking back – they were apparently that way all along and I couldn’t see it clearly. For that, I am truly ashamed and humiliated to be part of such a family. I wish they weren’t that way. I am finding it hard to love them right now – and I am going to make amends to my new neighbors and friends for lying to them and set the record straight. Maybe I’ll learn it is okay to tell the truth and to be honest about the reality I live. Maybe.

– cricketdiane

**

Oh yeah – and besides my entire set of Encyclopedia Britannica with my handwritten notes in the margins having been totally polluted by these clowns with their drugs being smoked inside the house and in that room where they were stored – my artwork is completely mucked up as well. The artworks I stored there are piled over with crap and have been permanently polluted with crystal meth cooking operations going on next to them. So are Mom’s extensive collection of greenware porcelain dolls and doll parts she made and the molds used to make them – some of them are ridiculously expensive because they are for designer dolls where the molds are specific to a known famous doll designer. What kind of idiots would muck up that much stuff and what kind of idiots would let them? Is that some shit or what? Yeah – but I’m the crazy one. Yeah right.

I’m not that crazy.

**

Oh – and just to be clear about it, my oldest daughter is actually out on bail with conditions which she is obviously ignoring along with my Dad who probably paid it – for a case where she spun around after some co-worker splashed her with the hot water spray when he was doing the dishes at a restaurant where they worked – and she took his nose off with a stainless steel salad bar bin when she hit him with it. That case is up in Pickens County – so they probably don’t care if she meets any of the conditions of her bail bond or not as long as they don’t have to deal with Cobb County where she is sitting now and come get her. That’s how they do it up there in the woods where everybody knows everybody, although those restaurant owners she and her boyfriend were working for – she said, they were recently busted for selling and then for having a meth lab in the basement of the restaurant. I don’t know – it might only be her bragging about not getting caught for selling it and they did. I’m really not sure. But if anybody here is not the bad guy – it would be me despite having wasted their “good stuff” on the throwing it out scheme – and if anybody needs some serious rehab and help with living skills – it is those two. One of these days, I’m going to find out what that boy is wanted for in Florida and what kind of felony it is – then he’s going on vacation to Florida. I’ve done had enough of this shit. (Just had to write this post – can’t stand keeping it to myself anymore. They don’t matter anymore – there is not one redeeming quality to either of them and I’m beginning to realize that may be the case for some of the rest of my family members as well. Just let it go and walk on. I didn’t get to get any of my stuff that I had stored at my parent’s house anyway – I can’t take pot and meth infiltrated stuff back on a bus or plane that may be randomly searched by a police officer and dog. That would be stupid. And I don’t even know how to fix that either – I brought back three volumes of my encyclopedia, have doused them with baking soda in a bag but I don’t really have my hopes up about it.)

**

By the way – this is the real pisser – one of my daughters in New York and I spent over $800 to get me to Georgia on a plane and taxis to the airport and back again on the bus plus the little bit I spent while I was there – none of them helped us do it and my daughter who did that is homeless and I’m on SSI with less than $7,000 a year to work with. I don’t even want to talk about how many of my bills didn’t get paid in order to do this and then to be treated this way after doing everything they asked, finding everything they needed when they asked me to get it or find it or whatever – and helped in every other way I could. I’m never going back there. They don’t have one dime’s worth of love in any of them.

**

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Disability Advocates in New York City

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

advocates, cricketdiane, disabilities, New York state, NYC, tools for independent living

So, yesterday, after dealing with the difficulties, shame, humiliation, futility and frustration of going to the welfare department of human resources at Staten Island, NYC and having those experiences that I did – there were several things I started using in order to deal with those feelings, anger and events. From anger management tools, I wrote on 3×5 cards while I was there about those feelings just as if I were telling someone how it felt. Then, upon getting back to my daughter’s apartment, I told her about it and a quick synopsis of all those things bugging the crap out of me without explaining why. And, that helped a lot but didn’t make any real difference in the level of those emotions and my much stupider ideas of what to do that would make those feelings disappear. But then, I sat down at the computer and looked up these resources in order to use them, which I am publishing here right off my notes taken into a document as I found them and saved them for my own use –

And, not only did that help a lot and help me to get focused, but it started to dispel the intensity of the hopelessness that I had been feeling. Then, I started interacting online with some Pinterest and Twitter stuff, started creating some new designs on products for the store and picked up a few things underfoot around the apt that were driving me to distraction. That made it (at the very least) seem like I have the personal power to start backing up the confusion setting in around me rather than to be lost by it and in it. And, that little bit here and there helped a lot.

The other thing that I did which may not help most people having these experiences is that I kept creating things until the feelings were more manageable as I listened to music that I like from my YouTube playlists. The two together helped me extend my vision far past the now in both directions, remembering times in the past when I was listening to that music and expressing applied actions toward the future that continues past this day and the last one. The process took many hours of efforts however and not only did I watch the sun rise while doing it, I had been doing that throughout the night and well into part of the morning before the emotional storms subsided. Really, it is only the feelings of futility, despair and hopelessness that had to go – well that and the shame, humiliation and frustration that accompanied them and propped up those feelings of overwhelming uselessness and failure.

But, I can say that even with my head injury that leaves me very confused and overwhelmed by these busy chaotic environments like the one that has been at the welfare office everytime I’ve gone including yesterday – I did not lose my way entirely. I probably had half a face by the time it was over, but I could still speak to others without it sounding garbled and I was able to see myself home without help. Those things are (among others) truly amazing and it is only after these other efforts that I can see some gratitude about that. There is always the fear that, in those environments especially with the other amplified emotional components – there will be a complete loss of function. But really, it was only a little bit of going backwards functionally. I had some trouble figuring out which bus to take to get back and a lot of trouble with the heat, but I didn’t forget my own name or how to walk and make the steps to do something about it and that is good.

However, that said – I am still angry that these “services” in Staten Island would do this to people, including me – that have physical and mental disabilities. That is intolerable and apparently it isn’t just me and certainly isn’t the first time that they have run people in circles, had them come back over and over and over without getting anything done, acted pleased with themselves doing so and generally made it far more difficult than it has to be for anyone to get anything from any program they represent there. That is intolerable.

So, I’m publishing this list for others, for their caregivers and for individuals like me that are trying to live independently in the community despite their disabilities and finding the same difficulties being intentionally created by paid agencies who are there to help us –

– cricketdiane

**

Disability Advocates New York City and State – plus Federal Resources –

US Justice Dept.

**

Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
Commissioner Victor Calise

By Mail
Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
100 Gold Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10038

By Telephone
Call 311
Call 212-NEW-YORK (Out-of-City)
TTY 212-504-4115 (Hearing Impaired)

By Email
Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities

http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/html/contact/contact.shtml

**

New York City Human Rights Law
The New York City Human Rights Law is one of the strongest and most comprehensive civil rights laws in the country.

It is applicable only in the five boroughs, and is enforced by the New York City Commission on Human Rights. The law is similar to the ADA and the New York State Human Rights Law; however, the City’s Human Rights Law also prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability in bank loans, mortgages, and participation in labor union programs.

Violation of this law enalts a person to bring a lawsuit in State court or to file a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

To obtain a copy of the New York City Human Rights Law, or to find out more detailed information, access the New York City Commission on Human Rights Web site at http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr, or call Voice 1 (212) 306-7500; Fax (212) 306-7595.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/html/laws/nyc_law.shtml

**

How can the Office of the Public Advocate help me?

  • The Public Advocate’s Constituent Services Unit assists with complaints or inquiries involving government-related services and regulations. The Unit provides information and referrals and works closely with City agencies to find solutions to help resolve your situation.

How can I contact the Constituent Services Unit?

  • Telephone Hotline: (212) 669-7250
    Hours: Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  • Email: GetHelp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
  • Walk-in Office Hours:
    Monday-Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
    1 Centre Street, 15 Floor
    New York, NY 10007
  • Fax: (212) 669-4701
  • Mail:
    Office of the NYC Public Advocate
    Attn: Constituent Services Department
    1 Centre Street, 15th Floor
    New York, NY 10007

How do you help constituents?

  • Once you provide your contact information, a brief description of your situation and any supportive documents or information, a constituent services representative assigned to your case will contact you to discuss a course of action with you. The representative will then refer you to the appropriate government agency to help resolve the situation.

In which languages do you provide services?

  • Our office is able to assist callers in virtually any language. We are connected to an interpretation line that enables us to serve all constituents.

How do the services offered by your office differ from those offered by 311?

  • 311 is an information and referral line, which allows you to speak with an operator, who will likely transfer you to a City or other government agency or write down your complaint and forward it to an agency. In the latter case, you are given a tracking number to monitor the follow-up. The 311 system is not equipped to allow for operators to track your case. At the Public Advocate’s Office, complaints are handled in a casework fashion by following up with the City agencies until your complaint is resolved. 311 provides many great services to callers, but our constituent services representatives are trained to resolve your complaints with a hands-on approach.

 

http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/how-we-can-help

**

Investigations & Prosecutions

Quick Links

  • Investigations & Prosecutions
  • Medical Review Board
  • Investigator Training Webinar
  • Intake and Incident Reporting-Vulnerable Persons Central Register (VCPR) Hotline
  • Office of Investigations
  • Adjudication
  • Staff Exclusion List (SEL) Management
  • Criminal History Background Checks Unit
  • Code of Conduct

The Justice Center has primary responsibility for tracking, investigating, prosecuting or otherwise pursuing serious abuse and neglect complaints for facilities and provider agencies that are operated, certified, or licensed by the following six agencies: Office of Mental Health (OMH), Department of Health (DOH), Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), and the State Education Department (SED).

Core Functions

  • Intake and Incident Reporting-Vulnerable Persons Central Register (VCPR) Hotline
  • Office of Investigations
  • Adjudication Unit
    • Administrative Hearings Unit
    • Administrative Appeals Unit
  • Prosecution Unit
  • Staff Exclusion List (SEL) Management
  • Criminal Background Check (CBC) Unit

http://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/investigations-prosecutions

**

NYS Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs

161 Delaware Avenue
Delmar, New York 12054-1310

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2002-S-28 – Office of the New York State Comptroller

osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093003/093003-h/02s28.pdf‎

Jul 24, 2003 – OFFICE OF TEMPORARY AND DISABILITY. ASSISTANCE. LEGAL SERVICES FOR NEW YORK CITY. DISABILITY ADVOCACY PROGRAM

**

Executive Law
Article 15

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

290. Purposes of article
291. Equality of opportunity a civil right

292. Definitions

293. Division of human rights
294. General policies of division
295. General powers and duties of division
296. Unlawful discriminatory practices
296-a. Unlawful discriminatory practices in relation to credit
297. Procedure
298. Judicial review and enforcement
298-a. Application of article to certain acts committed outside the State of New York

299. Penal provision
300. Construction
301. Separability

INDEX PAGE

290. Purposes of Article.

1. This article shall be known as the Human Rights Law.

2. It shall be deemed an exercise of the police power of the state for the protection of the public welfare, health and peace of the people of this state, and in fulfillment of the provisions of the constitution of this state concerning civil rights.

3. The legislature hereby finds and declares that the state has the responsibility to act to assure that every individual within this state is afforded an equal opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life and that the failure to provide such equal opportunity, whether because of discrimination, prejudice, intolerance or inadequate education, training, housing or health care not only threatens the rights and proper privileges of its inhabitants but menaces the institutions and foundation of a free democratic state and threatens the peace, order, health, safety and general welfare of the state and its inhabitants. A division in the executive department is hereby created to encourage programs designed to insure that every individual shall have an equal opportunity to participate fully in the economic, cultural and intellectual life of the state; to encourage and promote the development and execution by all persons within the state of such state programs;

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to eliminate and prevent discrimination in employment, in places of public accommodation, resort or amusement, in educational institutions, in public services, in housing accommodations, in commercial space and in credit transactions and to take other actions against discrimination as herein provided; and the division established hereunder is hereby given general jurisdiction and power for such purposes.

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291. Equality of opportunity a civil right.

1. The opportunity to obtain employment without discrimination because of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex or marital status is hereby recognized as and declared to be a civil right.

2. The opportunity to obtain education, the use of places of public accommodation and the ownership, use and occupancy of housing accommodations and commercial space without discrimination because of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex or marital status, as specified in section two hundred ninety-six of this article, is hereby recognized as and declared to be a civil right.

3. The opportunity to obtain medical treatment of an infant prematurely born alive in the course of an abortion shall be the same as the rights of an infant born spontaneously.

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292. Definitions.

When used in this article:

1. The term “person” includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers.

2. The term “employment agency” includes any person undertaking to procure employees or opportunities to work.

3. The term “labor organization” includes any organization which exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment.

4. The term “unlawful discriminatory practice” includes only those practices specified in sections two hundred ninety-six and two hundred ninety-six-a of this article.

5. The term “employer” does not include any employer with fewer than four persons in his employ.

6. The term “employee” in this article do1 not include any individual employed by his parents, spouse or child, or in the domestic service of any person.

1 So in original. Should probably read “does”.

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7. The term “commissioner” unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, means the state commissioner of human rights; and the term “division” means the state division of human rights created by this article.

8. The term “national origin” shall, for the purposes of this article, include “ancestry”.

9. The term “place of public accommodation, resort or amusement” shall include, except as hereinafter specified, all places included in the meaning of such terms as: inns, taverns, road houses, hotels, motels, whether conducted for the entertainment of transient guests or for the accommodation of those seeking health, recreation or rest, or restaurants, or eating houses, or any place where food is sold for consumption on the premises; buffets, saloons, barrooms, or any store, park or enclosure where spirituous or malt liquors are sold; ice cream parlors, confectioneries, soda fountains, and all stores where ice cream, ice and fruit preparations or their derivatives, or where beverages of any kind are retailed for consumption on the premises; wholesale and retail stores and establishments dealing with goods or services of any kind, dispensaries, clinics, hospitals, bathhouses, swimming pools, laundries and all other cleaning establishments, barber shops, beauty parlors, theaters, motion picture houses, airdromes, roof gardens, music halls, race courses, skating rinks, amusement and recreation parks, trailer camps, resort camps, fairs, bowling alleys, golf courses, gymnasiums, shooting galleries, billiard and pool parlors; garages, all public conveyances operated on land or water or in the air, as well as the stations and terminals thereof; travel or tour advisory services, agencies or bureaus; public halls and public elevators of buildings and structures occupied by two or more tenants, or by the owner and one or more tenants. Such term shall not include public libraries, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, high schools, academies, colleges and universities, extension courses, and all educational institutions under the supervision of the regents of the state of New York; any such public library, kindergarten, primary and secondary school, academy, college, university, professional school, extension course or other education facility, supported in whole or in part by public funds or by contributions solicited from the general public; or any institution, club or place of accommodation which proves that it is in its nature distinctly private.

In no event shall an institution, club or place of accommodation be considered in its nature distinctly private if it has more than one hundred members, provides regular meal service and regularly receives payment for dues, fees, use of space, facilities, services, meals or beverages directly or indirectly from or on behalf of a nonmember for the furtherance of trade or business. An institution, club, or place of accommodation which is not deemed distinctly private pursuant to this subdivision may nevertheless apply such selective criteria as it chooses in the use of its facilities, in evaluating applicants for membership and in the conduct of its activities, so long as such selective criteria do not constitute discriminatory practices under this article or any other provision of law. For the purposes of this section, a corporation incorporated under the benevolent orders law or described in the benevolent orders law, but formed under any other law of this state or a religious corporation incorporated under the education law or the religious corporations law shall be deemed to be in its nature distinctly private.

No institution, club, organization or place of accommodation which sponsors or conducts any amateur athletic contest or sparring exhibition and advertises or bills such contest or exhibition as a New York state championship contest or uses the words “New York state” in its announcements shall be deemed a private exhibition within the meaning of this section.

10. The term “housing accommodation” includes any building, structure or portion thereof which is used or occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence or sleeping place of one or more human beings.

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11. The term “publicly-assisted housing accommodations” shall include all housing accommodations within the state of New York in

(a) public housing.

(b) housing operated by housing companies under the supervision of the commissioner of housing.

(c) housing constructed after July first, nineteen hundred fifty, within the state of New York.

(1) which is exempt in whole or in part from taxes levied by the state or any of its political subdivisions,

(2) which is constructed on land sold below cost by the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof, pursuant to the federal housing act of nineteen hundred forty-nine,

(3) which is constructed in whole or in part on property acquired or assembled by the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof through the power of condemnation or otherwise for the purpose of such construction, or

(4) for the acquisition, construction, repair or maintenance of which the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof supplies funds or other financial assistance,

(d) housing which is located in a multiple dwelling, the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of which is, after July first, nineteen hundred fiftyfive, financed in whole or in part by a loan, whether or not secured by a mortgage, the repayment of which is guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any agency thereof, or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof, provided that such a housing accommodation shall be deemed to be publicly assisted only during the life of such loan and such guaranty or insurance; and

(e) housing which is offered for sale by a person who owns or otherwise controls the sale of ten or more housing accommodations located on land that is contiguous (exclusive of public streets), if

(1) the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of such housing accommodations is, after July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five, financed in whole or in part by a loan, whether or not secured by a mortgage, the repayment of which is guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any agency thereof, or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof, provided that such a housing accommodation shall be deemed to be publicly assisted only during the life of such loan and guaranty or insurance, or

(2) a commitment, issued by a government agency after July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five, is outstanding that acquisition of such housing accommodations may be financed in whole or in part by a loan, whether or not secured by a mort gage, the repayment of which is guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any agency thereof, or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof.

12. The term “multiple dwelling,” as herein used, means a dwelling which is occupied, as a rule, for permanent residence purposes and which is either rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied as the residence or home of three or more families living independently of each other. A “multiple dwelling” shall not be deemed to include a hospital, convent, monastery, asylum or public institution, or a fireproof building used wholly for commercial purposes except for not more than one janitor’s apartment and not more than one penthouse occupied by not more than two families. The term “family”, as used herein, means either a person occupying a dwelling and maintaining a household, with not more than four boarders, roomers or lodgers, or two or more persons occupying a dwelling, living together and maintaining a common household, with not more than four boarders, roomers or lodgers. A “boarder”, “roomer”, or “lodger” residing with

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a family means a person living within the household who pays a consideration for such residence and does not occupy such space within the household as an incident of employment therein.

13. The term “commercial space” means any space in a building, structure or portion thereof which is used or occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied for the manufacture, sale, resale, processing, reprocessing, displaying, storing, handling, garaging or distribution of personal property; and any space which is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied as a separate business or professional unit or office in any building, structure or portion thereof.

14. The term “real estate broker” means any person, firm or corporation who, for another and for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, lists for sale, sells, at auction or otherwise, exchanges, buys or rents, or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale, at auction or otherwise, exchange, purchase or rental of an estate or interest in real estate, or collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate, or negotiates, or offers or attempts to negotiate, a loan secured or to be secured by a mortgage or other incumbrance upon or transfer of real estate. In the sale of lots pursuant to the provisions of article nine-a of the real property law, the term “real estate broker” shall also include any person, partnership, association or corporation employed by or on behalf of the owner or owners of lots or other parcels of real estate, at a stated salary, or upon a commission, or upon a salary and commission, or otherwise, to sell such real estate, or any parts thereof, in lots or other parcels, and who shall sell or exchange, or offer or attempt or agree to negotiate the sale or exchange, of any such lot or parcel of real estate.

15. The term “real estate salesman” means a person employed by a licensed real estate broker to list for sale, sell or offer for sale, at auction or otherwise, to buy or offer to buy or to negotiatethe purchase or sale or exchange of real estate, or to negotiate a loan on real estate, or to lease or rent or offer to lease, rent or place for rent any real estate, or who collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate for or in behalf of such real estate broker.

16. The term “necessary party” means any person who has such an interest in the subject matter of a proceeding under this article, or whose rights are so involved, that no complete and effective disposition can be made without his participation in the proceeding;

17. The term “parties to the proceeding” means the complainant, respondent, necessary parties and persons permitted to intervene as parties in a proceeding with respect to a complaint filed under this article;

18. The term “hearing examiner” means an employee of the division who shall be assigned for stated periods to no other work than the conduct of hearings under this article;

19. The term “discrimination” shall include segregation and separation.

20. The term “credit,” when used in this article means the right conferred upon a person by a creditor to incur debt and defer its payment, whether or not any interest or finance charge is made for the exercise of this right.

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21. The term “disability” means

(a) a physical, mental or medical impairment resulting from anatomical, physiological or neurological conditions which prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques or

(b) a record of such an impairment, or

(c) a condition regarded by others as such an impairment, provided, however, that in all provisions of this article dealing with employment, the term shall be limited to disabilities which do not prevent the complainant from performing in a reasonable manner the activities involved in the job or occupation sought or held.

22. The term “creditor”, when used in this article, means any person or financial institution which does business in this state and which extends credit or arranges for the extension of credit by others. The term creditor includes, but is not limited to, banks and trust companies, private bankers, foreign banking corporations and national banks, savings banks, licensed lenders, savings and loan associations, credit unions, sales finance companies, insurance premium finance agencies, insurers, credit card issuers, mortgage brokers, mortgage companies, mortgage insurance corporations, wholesale and retail merchants and factors.

23. The term “credit reporting bureau,” when used in this article, means any person doing business in this state who regularly makes credit reports, as such term is defined by subdivision e of section three hundred seventy-one of the general business law.2

24. The term “regulated creditor,” when used in this article, means any creditor, as herein defined, which has received its charter, license, or organization certificate, as the case may be, from the banking department or which is otherwise subject to the supervision of the banking department.

25. The term “superintendent,” when used in this article, means the head of the banking department appointed pursuant to section twelve of the banking law.3

26. The term “familial status”, when used in this article, means:

(a) any person who is pregnant or has a child or is in the process of securing legal custody of any individual who has not attained the age of eighteen years, or

(b) one or more individuals (who have not attained the age of eighteen years) being domiciled with:

(1) a parent or another person having legal custody of such individual or individuals, or;

(2) the designee of such parent.

2 Subdivision e of Section three hundred seventy-one of the General Business Law was replaced by C. 867, Section 2. 1977.

3 See Section 9-d of Article I of Banking Law.

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293. Division of human rights.

1. There is hereby created in the executive department a division of human rights hereinafter in this article called the division. The head of such division shall be a commissioner hereinafter in this article called the commissioner, who shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate and shall hold office at the pleasure of the governor. The commissioner shall be enaltd to his expenses actually and necessarily incurred by him in the performance of his duties.

2. The commissioner may establish, consolidate, reorganize or abolish such bureaus and other organizational units within the division as he determines to be necessary for efficient operation.

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294. General policies of division.

The division shall formulate policies to effectuate the purposes of this article and may make recommendations to agencies and officers of the state or local subdivisions of government in aid of such policies and purposes.

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295. General powers and duties of division.

The division, by and through the commissioner or his duly authorized officer or employee, shall have the following functions, powers and duties:

1. To establish and maintain its principal office, and such other offices within the state as it may deem necessary.

2. To function at any place within the state.

3. To appoint such officers, attorneys, clerks and other employees and agents, consultants and special committees as it may deem necessary, fix their compensation within the limitations provided by law, and prescribe their duties.

4. To obtain upon request and utilize the services of all governmental departments and agencies.

5. To adopt, promulgate, amend and rescind suitable rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this article, and the policies and practice of the division in connection therewith.

6. (a) To receive, investigate and pass upon complaints alleging violations of this article.

(b) Upon its own motion, to test and investigate and to make, sign and file complaints alleging violations of this article and to initiate investigations and studies to carry out the purposes of this article.

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7. To hold hearings, to provide where appropriate for cross-interrogatories, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, administer oaths, take the testimony of any person under oath, and in connection therewith, to require the production for examination of any books or papers relating to any matter under investigation or in question before the division. The division may make rules as to the issuance of subpoenas which may be issued by the division at any stage of any investigation or proceeding before it.

In any such investigation or hearing, the commissioner, or an officer duly designated by the commissioner to conduct such investigation or hearing, may confer immunity in accordance with the provisions of section 50.20 of the criminal procedure law.4

8. To create such advisory councils, local, regional or statewide, as in its judgment will aid in effectuating the purposes of this article and of section eleven of article one of the constitution of this state, and the division may empower them to study the problems of discrimination in all or specific fields of human relationships or in specific instances of discrimination because of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability or marital status and make recommendations to the division for the development of policies and procedures in general and in specific instances. The advisory councils also shall disseminate information about the division’s activities to organizations and individuals in their localities. Such advisory councils shall be composed of representative citizens, serving without pay, but with reimbursement for actual and necessary traveling expenses; and the division may make provision for technical and clerical assistance to such councils and for the expenses of such assistance.

9. To develop human rights plans and policies for the state and assist in their execution and to make investigations and studies appropriate to effectuate this article and to issue such publications and such results of investigations and research as in its judgment will tend to inform persons of the rights assured and remedies provided under this article, to promote goodwill and minimize or eliminate discrimination because of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability or marital status.

10. To render each year to the governor and to the legislature a full written report of all its activities and of its recommendations.

11. To inquire into incidents of and conditions which may lead to tension and conflict among racial, religious and nationality groups and to take such action within the authority granted by law to the division, as may be designed to alleviate such conditions, tension and conflict;

12. To furnish any person with such technical assistance as the division deems appropriate to further compliance with the purposes or provisions of this article;

13. To promote the creation of human rights agencies by counties, cities, villages or towns in circumstances the division deems appropriate.

14. To accept, with the approval of the governor, as agent of the state, any grant, including federal grants, or any gift for any of the purposes of this article. Any monies so received may be expended by the division to effectuate any purpose of this article, subject to the

4 See Section 50.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

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same limitations as to approval of expenditures and audit as are prescribed for state monies appropriated for the purposes of this article;

15. To adopt an official seal.

16. To have concurrent jurisdiction with the New York City commission on human rights over the administration and enforcement of alt C of chapter one of the administrative code of the City of New York.5

5 See New York City Administrative Code Chap. 1, alt C, etc.

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296. Unlawful discriminatory practices.

1. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:

(a) For an employer or licensing agency, because of the age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or disability, or marital status of any individual, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment such individual or to discriminate against such individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

(b) For an employment agency to discriminate against any individual because of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or disability or marital status, in receiving, classifying, disposing or otherwise acting upon applications for its services or in referring an applicant or applicants to an employer or employers.

(c) For a labor organization, because of the age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or disability or marital status of any individual, to exclude or to expel from its membership such individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members or against any employer or any individual employed by an employer.

(d) For any employer or employment agency to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for employment or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, which expresses directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to age, race, creed, color or national origin, sex, or disability or marital status, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification; provided, however, that neither this paragraph nor any provision of this chapter or other law shall be construed to prohibit the department of civil service or the department of personnel of any city containing more than one county from requesting information from applicants for civil service examinations concerning any of the aforementioned characteristics for the purpose of conducting studies to identify and resolve possible problems in recruitment and testing of members of minority groups to insure the fairest possible and equal opportunities for employment in the civil service for all persons, regardless of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or disability or marital status.

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(e) For any employer, labor organization or employment agency to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person because he has opposed any practices forbidden under this article or because he has filed a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this article.

(f) Nothing in this subdivision shall affect any restrictions upon the activities of persons licensed by the state liquor authority with respect to persons under twenty-one years of age.

(g) For an employer to compel an employee who is pregnant to take a leave of absence, unless the employee is prevented by such pregnancy from performing the activities involved in the job or occupation in a reasonable manner.

1-a. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, labor organization, employment agency or any joint labor-management committee controlling apprentice training programs:

(a) To select persons for an apprentice training program registered with the state of New York on any basis other than their qualifications, as determined by objective criteria which permit review;

(b) To deny to or withhold from any person because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, or marital status, the right to be admitted to or participate in a guidance program, an apprenticeship training program, on-the-job training program, executive training program, or other occupational training or retraining program;

(c) To discriminate against any person in his pursuit of such programs or to discriminate against such a person in the terms, conditions or privileges of such programs because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital status;

(d) To print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for such programs or to make any inquiry in connection with such program which expresses, directly or indirectly any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital status, or any intention to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification.

2.(a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person, being the owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex or disability or marital status of any person, directly or indirectly, to refuse, withhold from or deny to such person any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges thereof, including the extension of credit, or, directly or indirectly, to publish, circulate, issue, display, post or mail any written or printed communication, notice or advertisement, to the effect that any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of any such place shall be refused, withheld from or denied to any person on account of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or disability or marital status, or that the patronage or custom thereat of any person of or purporting to be of any particular race, creed, color, national origin, sex or marital status, or having a disability is unwelcome, objectionable or not acceptable, desired or solicited.

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(b) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prevent the barring of any person, because the sex of such person, from places of public accommodations, resort or amusement if the division grants an exemption based on bona fide considerations of public policy; nor shall this subdivision apply to the rental of rooms in a housing accommodation which restricts such rental to individuals of one sex.

2-a. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the owner, lessee, sub-lessee, assignee, or managing agent of publicly-assisted housing accommodations or other person having the right of ownership or possession of or the right to rent or lease such accommodations:

(a) To refuse to rent or lease or otherwise to deny to or withhold from any person or group of persons such housing accommodations because of the race, creed, color, disability, national origin, age, sex or marital status of such person or persons.

(b) To discriminate against any person because of his race, creed, color, disability, national origin, age, sex or marital status in the terms, conditions or privileges of any publicly-assisted housing accommodations or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith.

(c) To cause to be made any written or oral inquiry or record concerning the race, creed, color, disability, national origin, age or marital status of a person seeking to rent or lease any publicly-assisted housing accommodation.

(d) (1) To refuse to permit, at the expense of the person with a disability, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to be occupied by the said person, if the modifications may be necessary to afford the said person full enjoyment of the premises, in conformity with the provisions of the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code, except that, in the case of a rental, the landlord may, where it is reasonable to do so, condition permission for a modification on the renter’s agreeing to restore the interior of the premises to the condition that existed before the modification, reasonable wear and tear excepted.

(2) To refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling or

(3) In connection with the design and construction of covered multi-family dwellings for first occupancy after March thirteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-one, a failure to design and construct dwellings in accordance with the accessibility requirements of the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code, to provide that:

(i) The public use and common use portions of the dwellings are readily accessible to and usable by disabled persons with disabilities;

(ii) All the doors are designed in accordance with the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code to allow passage into and within all premises and are sufficiently wide to allow passage by persons in wheelchairs; and

(iii) All premises within covered multi-family dwelling units contain an accessible route into and through the dwelling; light switches, electrical out-

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lets, thermostats, and other environmental controls are in accessible locations; there are reinforcements in the bathroom walls to allow later installation of grab bars; and there are usable kitchens and bathrooms such that an individual in a wheelchair can maneuver about the space, in conformity with the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code.

(e) Nothing in this subdivision shall restrict the consideration of age in the rental of publicly-assisted housing accommodations if the division grants an exemption based on bona fide considerations of public policy for the purpose of providing for the special needs of a particular age group without the intent of prejudicing other age groups.

(f) Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to restrict the rental of rooms in school or college dormitories to individuals of the same sex.

3-a. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:

(a) For an employer or licensing agency, to refuse to hire or employ or license or to bar or to terminate from employment an individual eighteen years of age or older, or to discriminate against such individual in promotion, compensation or in terms, conditions, orprivileges of employment, because of such individual’s age.

(b) For any employer, licensing agency or employment agency to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for employment or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination on account of age respecting individuals eighteen years of age or older, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification, or discrimination.

(c) For any employer, licensing agency or employment agency to discharge or otherwise discriminate against any person because he has opposed any practices forbidden under this article or because he has filed a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this article.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no employee shall be subject to termination or retirement from employment on the basis of age, except where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of a particular business, where the differentiation is based on reasonable factors other than age, or as otherwise specified in paragraphs (e) and (f) of this subdivision or in article fourteen-A of the retirement and social security law.

(e) Nothing contained in this subdivision or in subdivision one of this section shall be construed to prevent the compulsory retirement of any employee who has attained sixty-five years of age, and who, for a two-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or a high policy making position, if such employee is enaltd to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings, or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer of such employee, which equals, in the aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars; provided that for the purposes of this paragraph only, the term “employer” includes any employer as otherwise defined in this article but does not include

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296.3-a

(i) the state of New York,

(ii) a county, city, town, village or any other political subdivision or civil division of the state,

(iii) a school district or any other governmental entity operating a public school, college or university,

(iv) a public improvement or special district,

(v) a public authority, commission or public benefit corporation, or

(vi) any other public corporation, agency, instrumentality or unit of government which exercises governmental power under the laws of the state. In applying the retirement benefit test of this paragraph, if any such retirement benefit is in a form otherthan a straight life annuity with no ancillary benefits, or if employees contribute to any such plan or make rollover contributions, such benefit shall be adjusted in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the division, after an opportunity for public hearing, so that the benefit is the equivalent of a straight life annuity with no ancillary benefits under a plan to which employees do not contribute and under which no rollover contributions are made.

(f) Nothing contained in this subdivision, in subdivision one of this section or in article fourteen-A of the retirement and social security law shall be construed to prevent the compulsory retirement of any employee who has attained seventy years of age and is serving under a contract for unlimited tenure, or a similar arrangement providing for unlimited tenure, at a nonpublic institution of higher education. For purposes of such subdivisions or article, the term “institution of higher education” means an educational institution which

(1) admits as regular students only persons having a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or the recognized equivalent of such a certi-ficate,

(2) is lawfully authorized to provide a program of education beyond secondary education, and

(3) provides an educational program for which it awards a bachelor’s degree or provides not less than a two-year program which is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree.

(g) In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this subdivision and the provisions of article fourteen-A of the retirement and social security law, the provisions of article fourteen-A of such law shall be controlling.

But nothing contained in this subdivision, in subdivision one of this section or in article fourteen-A of the retirement and social security law shall be construed to prevent the termination of the employment of any person who is physically unable to perform his duties or to affect the retirement policy or system of any employer where such policy or system is not merely a subterfuge to evade the purposes of said subdivisions or said article; nor shall anything in said subdivisions or said article be deemed to preclude the varying of insurance coverages according to an employee’s age.

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296.3-b, 4, 5

The provisions of this subdivision shall not affect any restriction upon the activities of persons licensed by the state liquor authority with respect to persons under twentyone years of age.

3-b. It shall be unlawful discriminatory practice for any real estate broker, real estate salesman or employee or agent thereof or any other individual, corporation, partnership or organization for the purpose of inducing a real estate transaction from which any such person or any of its stockholders or members may benefit financially, to represent that a change has occurred or will or may occur in the composition with respect to race, creed, color, national origin or marital status of the owners or occupants in the block, neighborhood or area in which the real property is located, and to represent, directly or indirectly, that this change will or may result in undesirable consequences in the block, neighborhood or area in which the real property is located, including but not limited to the lowering of property values, an increase in criminal or anti-social behavior, or a decline in the quality of schools or other facilities.6

4. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an education corporation or association which holds itself out to the public to be non-sectarian and exempt from taxation pursuant to the provisions of article four of the real property tax law to deny the use of its facilities to any person otherwise qualified, by reason of his race, color, religion, disability, national origin, age or marital status.

5. (a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the owner, lessee, sub-lessee, assignee, or managing agent of, or other person having the right to sell, rent or lease a housing accommodation, constructed or to be constructed, or any agent or employee thereof:

(1) To refuse to sell, rent, lease or otherwise to deny to or withhold from any person or group of persons such a housing accommodation because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status of such person or persons.

(2) To discriminate against any person because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale, rental or lease of any such housing accommodation or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith.

(3) To print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for the purchase, rental or lease of such housing accommodation or to make any record or inquiry in connection with the prospective purchase, rental or lease of such a housing accommodation which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination.

The provisions of this paragraph (a) shall not apply

6 Not applicable to City of New York. Ch. 493, Sec. 2, Laws of 1974.

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296.5

(1) to the rental of a housing accommodation in a building which contains housing accommodations for not more than two families living independently of each other, if the owner or members of the owner’s family reside in one of such housing accommodations,

(2) to the restriction of the rental of all rooms in a housing accommodation to individuals of the same sex or

(3) to the rental of a room or rooms in a housing accommodation, if such rental is by the occupant of the housing accommodation or by the owner of the housing accommodation and the owner or members of the owner’s family reside in such housing accommodation or

(4) solely with respect to age to the restriction of the sale, rental or lease of housing accommodations exclusively to persons fifty-five years of age or older, and the spouse of any such person.

(b) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the owner, lessee, sub-lessee, or managing agent of, or other person having the right of ownership or possession of or the right to sell, rent or lease, land or commercial space.

(1) To refuse to sell, rent, lease or otherwise deny to or withhold from any person or group of persons land or commercial space because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability or marital status of such person or persons.

(2) To discriminate against any person because of his race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability or marital status in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale, rental or lease of any such land or commercial space; or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith.

(3) To print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for the purchase, rental or lease of such land or commercial space or to make any record or inquiry in connection with the prospective purchase, rental or lease of such land or commercial space which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability or marital status; or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination.

(4) With respect to age, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to the restriction of the sale, rental or lease of land or commercial space exclusively to persons fifty-five years of age or older, and the spouse of any such person.

(c) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any real estate broker, real estate salesman or employee or agent thereof:

(1) To refuse to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation, land or commercial space to any person or group of persons or to refuse to negotiate for the sale, rental or lease, of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space to any person or group of persons because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status of such person or persons, or to represent that any housing accommodation, land or commercial space is not available for inspection, sale, rental or lease when in fact it is so available, or otherwise to deny or withhold any housing accommodation, land or commercial space or any facilities of any housing accommodation

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land or commercial space from any person or group of persons because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status of such person or persons.

(2) To print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for the purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space or to make any record or inquiry in connection with the prospective purchase, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, or familial status; or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination.

(3) With respect to age, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to the restriction of the sale, rental or lease of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space exclusively to persons fifty-five years of age or older, and the spouse of any such person.

(d) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice of any real estate board, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, or disability or marital status of any individual who is otherwise qualified for membership, to exclude or expel such individual from membership, or to discriminate against such individual in the terms, conditions and privileges of membership in such board.

(e) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the owner, proprietor or managing agent of, or other person having the right to provide care and services in, a private proprietary nursing home,7 convalescent home, or home for adults, or an intermediate care facility, as defined in section two of the social services law, heretofore constructed, or to be constructed, or any agent or employee thereof, to refuse to provide services and care in such home or facility to any individual or to discriminate against any individual in the terms, conditions and privileges of such services and care solely because such individual is a blind person. For purposes of this paragraph, a “blind person” shall mean a person who is registered as a blind person with the commission for the visually handicapped and who meets the definition of a “blind person” pursuant to section three of chapter four hundred fifteen of the laws of nineteen hundred thirteen enaltd “An act to establish a state commission for improving the condition of the blind of the state of New York, and making an appropriation therefor.”8

(f) The provisions of this subdivision, as they relate to age, shall not apply to persons under the age of eighteen years.

6. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any of the acts forbidden under this article, or to attempt to do so.

7. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person engaged in any activity to which this section applies to retaliate or discriminate against any person because he has opposed any practices forbidden under this article or because he has filed a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this article.

7 See also Sec. 2801-d of the Public Health Law.

8 See Unconsolidated Laws, alt 24, Sec. 24, Sec. 8704.

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296.8-10

8. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any party to a conciliation agreement made pursuant to section two hundred ninety-seven of this article to violate the terms of such agreement.

9. (a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any fire department or fire company therein, through any member or members thereof, officers, board of fire commissioners or other body or office having power of appointment of volunteer firemen, directly or indirectly, by ritualistic practice, constitutional or by-law prescription, by tacit agreement among its members, or otherwise, to deny to any individual membership in any volunteer fire department or fire company therein, or to expel or discriminate against any volunteer member of a fire department or fire company therein, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex or marital status of such individual.

(b) Upon a complaint to the division, as provided for under subdivision one of section two hundred ninety-seven of this article, and in the event the commissioner finds that an unlawful discriminatory practice has been engaged in, the board of fire commissioners or other body or office having power of appointment of volunteer firemen shall be served with any order required, under subdivision four of section two hundred ninety-seven of this article, to be served on any or all respondents requiring such respondent or respondents to cease and desist from such unlawful discriminatory practice and to take affirmative action. Such board shall have the duty and power to appoint as a volunteer fireman, notwithstanding any other statute or provision of law or by-law of any volunteer fire company, any individual whom the commissioner has determined to be the subject of an unlawful discriminatory practice under this subdivision. Unless such board has been found to have engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice, service upon such board of such order shall not constitute such board or its members as a respondent nor constitute a finding of an unlawful discriminatory practice against such board or its members.

10. (a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any employer to prohibit, prevent or disqualify any person from, or otherwise to discriminate against any person in, obtaining or holding employment, because of his observance of any particular day or days or any portion thereof as a sabbath or other holy day in accordance with the requirements of his religion.

(b) Except as may be required in an emergency or where his personal presence is indispensable to the orderly transaction of business, no person shall be required to remain at his place of employment during any day or days or portion thereof that, as a requirement of his religion, he observes as his sabbath or other holy day, including a reasonable time prior and subsequent thereto for travel between his place of employment and his home, provided however, that any such absence from work shall, wherever practicable in the judgment of the employer, be made up by an equivalent amount of time and work at some other mutually convenient time, or shall be charged against any leave with pay ordinarily granted, other than sick leave, provided further, however, that any such absence not so made up or charged, may be treated by the em ployer of such person as leave taken without pay.

(c) This subdivision shall not be construed to apply to any position dealing with health or safety where the person holding such position must be available for duty whenever needed, or to any position or class of positions the nature and quality of the

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duties of which are such that the personal presence of the holder of such position is regularly essential on any particular day or days or portion thereof for the normal performance of such duties with respect to any applicant therefor or holder thereof who, as a requirement of his religion, observes such day or days or portion thereof as his sabbath or other holy day. In the case of any employer other than the state, any of its political subdivision or any school district, this subdivision shall not apply where the uniform application of terms and conditions of attendance to employees is essential to prevent undue economic hardship to the employer. In any proceeding in which the applicability of this subdivision is in issue, the burden of proof shall be upon the employer. If any question shall arise whether a particular position or class of positions is excepted from this subdivision by this paragraph, such question may be referred in writing by any party claimed to be aggrieved, in the case of any position of employment by the state or any of its political subdivisions, except by any school district, to the civil service commission, in the case of any position of employment by any school district, to the commissioner of education, who shall determine such question and in the case of any other employer, a party claiming to be aggrieved may file a complaint with the division pursuant to this article. Any such determination by the civil service commission shall be reviewable in the manner provided by article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules and any suchdetermination by the commissioner of education shall be reviewable in the manner and to the same extent as other determinations of the commissioner under section three hundred ten of the education law.

11. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to bar any religious or denominational institution or organization, or any organization operated for charitable or educational purposes, which is operated, supervised or controlled by or in connection with a religious organization, from limiting employment or sales or rental of housing accommodations or admission to or giving preference to persons of the same religion or denomination or from taking such action as is calculated by such organization to promote the religious principles for which it is established or maintained.

12. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions one, one-a and three-a of this section, it shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, employment agency, labor organization or joint labor-management committee to carry out a plan, approved by the division, to increase the employment of members of a minority group (as may be defined pursuant to the regulations of the division) which has a statewide unemployment rate that is disproportionately high in comparison with the statewide unemployment rate of the general population. Any plan approved under this subdivision shall be in writing and the division’s approval thereof shall be for a limited period and may be rescinded at any time by the division.

13. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice

(i) for any person to discriminate against, boycott or blacklist, or to refuse to buy from, sell to or trade with, any person, because of the race, creed, color, national origin or sex of such person, or of such person’s partners, members, stockholders, directors, officers, managers, superintendents, agents, employees, business associates, suppliers or customers, or

(ii) for any person wilfully to do any act or refrain from doing any act which enables any such person to take such action. This subdivision shall not apply to:

(a) Boycotts connected with labor disputes; or

(b) Boycotts to protect unlawful discriminatory practices.

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296.14-18

14. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person engaged in any activity covered by this section to discriminate against a blind person, or a hearing impaired person who has a hearing impairment manifested by a speech discrimination score of forty percent or less in the better ear with appropriate correction as certified by a licensed audiologist or otorhinolaryngologist as defined in section seven hundred eighty-one of the general business law, as added by chapter seven hundred ninety-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-five, or a physician who has examined such person pursuant to the provisions of section seven hundred eighty-four of such law as added by such chapter or a person with a disability on the basis of his use of a guide dog, hearing dog or service dog.

15. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person, agency, bureau, corporation or association, including the state and any political subdivision thereof, to deny any license or employment to any individual by reason of his having been convicted of one or more criminal offenses, or by reason of a finding of a lack of “good moral character” which is based upon his having been convicted of one or more criminal offenses,when such denial is in violation of the provisions of article twenty-three-a of the correction law.9

16. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice, unless specifically required or permitted by statute, for any person, agency, bureau, corporation or association, including the state and any political subdivision thereof, to make any inquiry about, whether in any form of application or otherwise, or to act upon adversely to the individual involved, any arrest or criminal accusation of such individual not then pending against that individual which was followed by a termination of that criminal action or proceeding in favor of such individual, as defined in subdivision two of section 160.50 of the criminal procedure law, in connection with the licensing, employment or providing of credit or insurance to such individual; provided, however, that the provisions hereof shall not apply to the licensing activities of governmental bodies in relation to the regulation of guns, firearms and other deadly weapons10 or in relation to an application for employment as a police officer or peace officer as those terms are defined in subdivisions thirty-three and thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law.

17. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the offer and acceptance of a discount to a person sixty-five years of age or older for housing accommodations.

18. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the owner, lessee, sub-lessee, assignee, or managing agent of, or other person having the right of ownership of or possession of or the right to rent or lease housing accommodations:

(1) To refuse to permit, at the expense of a person with a disability, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to be occupied by the said person, if the modifications may be necessary to afford the said person full enjoyment of the premises, in conformity with the provisions of the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code except that, in the case of a rental, the landlord may,

9 See Correction Law, Article 23-A.

10 See Criminal Procedure Law, Sec. 160.50.

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where it is reasonable to do so, condition permission for a modification on the renter’s agreeing to restore the interior of the premises to the condition that existed before the modification, reasonable wear and tear excepted.

(2) To refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford said person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling or

(3) In connection with the design and construction of covered multi-family dwellings for first occupancy after March thirteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-one, a failure to design and construct dwellings in accordance with the accessibility requirements of the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code to provide that:

(i) The public use and common use portions of the dwellings are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities;

(ii) All the doors are designed in accordance with the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code to allow passage into and within all premises and are sufficientlywide to allow passage by persons in wheelchairs; and

(iii) All premises within covered multi-family dwelling units contain an accessible route into and through the dwelling; light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other environmental controls are in accessible locations; there are reinforcements in the bathroom walls to allow later installation of grab bars; and there are usable kitchens and bathrooms such that an individual in a wheelchair can maneuver about the space, in conformity with the New York State uniform fire prevention and building code.

19. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the offer and acceptance of a discount for housing accommodations to a person with a disability, as defined in subdivision twenty-one of section two hundred ninety-two of this article.

296-a. Unlawful discriminatory practices in relation to credit.

1. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any creditor or any officer, agent or employee thereof:

a. In the case of applications for credit with respect to the purchase, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of any housing accommodation, land or commercial space to discriminate against any such applicant because of the race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, marital status or disability of such applicant or applicants or any member, stockholder, director, officer or employee of such applicant or applicants, or of the prospective occupants or tenants of such housing accommodation, land or commercial space, in the granting, withholding, extending or renewing, or in the fixing of the rates, terms or conditions of, any such credit.

b. To discriminate in the granting, withholding, extending or renewing, or in the fixing of the rates, terms or conditions of, any form of credit, on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, marital status or disability.

c. To use any form of application for credit or use or make any record or inquiry which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, marital status or disability.

d. To make any inquiry of an applicant concerning his or her capacity to reproduce, or his or her use or advocacy of any form of birth control or family planning.

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296-a.2-6

e. To refuse to consider sources of an applicant’s income or to subject an applicant’s income to discounting, in whole or in part, because of an applicant’s race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, marital status, childbearing potential or disability.

f. To discriminate against a married person because such person neither uses nor is known by the surname of his or her spouse.

This paragraph shall not apply to any situation where the use of a surname would constitute or result in a criminal act.

2. Without limiting the generality of subdivision one, it shall be considered discriminatory if, because of an applicant’s or class of applicants’ race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, marital status or disability,

(i) an applicant or class of applicants’ is denied credit in circumstances where other applicants of like overall credit worthiness are granted credit, or

(ii) special requirements or conditions, such as requiring co-obligors or reapplication upon marriage, are imposed upon an applicant or class of applicants in circumstances where similar requirements or conditions are not imposed upon other applicants of like overall credit worthiness.

3. It shall not be considered discriminatory if credit differentiations or decisions are based upon factually supportable, objective differences in applicants’ overall credit worthiness, which may include reference to such factors as current income, assets and prior credit history of such applicants, as well as reference to any other relevant factually supportable data; provided, however, that no creditor shall consider, in evaluating the credit worthiness of an applicant, aggregate statistics or assumptions relating to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, marital status or disability, or to the likelihood of any group of persons bearing or rearing children, or for that reason receiving diminished or interrupted income in the future.

3-a. It shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice to consider age in determining credit worthiness when age has a demonstrable and statistically sound relationship to a determination of credit worthiness.

4. a. If so requested by an applicant for credit, a creditor shall furnish such applicant with a statement of the specific reasons for rejection of the applicant’s application for credit.

b. If so requested in writing by an individual who is or was married, a creditor or credit reporting bureau shall maintain in its records a separate credit history for any such individual. Such separate history shall include all obligations as to which such bureau has notice with respect to which any such person is or was individually or jointly liable.

5. No provision of this section providing spouses the right to separately apply for credit, borrow money, or have separate credit histories maintained shall limit or foreclose the right of creditors, under any other provision of law, to hold one spouse legally liable for debts incurred by the other.

6. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice engaged in by a regulated creditor, in lieu of the procedure set forth in section two hundred ninety-seven of this chapter, may file a verified complaint with the superintendent, as provided hereinafter; provided however, that the filing of a complaint with either the superintendent or the division shall bar subsequent recourse to the other agency, as well as to any local commission on human rights, with respect to the grievance complained of.

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7. In the case of a verified complaint filed with the superintendent the following procedures shall be followed:

a. After receipt of the complaint, the superintendent shall make a determination within thirty days of whether there is probable cause to believe that the person named in the complaint has engaged in or is engaging in an unlawful discriminatory practice. If the superintendent determines there is no such probable cause, the complaint shall be dismissed. If the superintendent determines that there is such probable cause, he shall attempt to resolve such complaint by conference and conciliation. If conciliation is achieved, the terms shall be recorded in a written agreement signed by the creditor and complainant, a copy of which shall be forwarded to the commissioner.

b. If conciliation is not achieved, the superintendent or his designated representative shall conduct a hearing with respect to the alleged violation of this section. All interested parties shall be enaltd to adequate and timely notice of thehearing. Such parties shall have the right to be represented by counsel or by other representatives of their own choosing; to offer evidence and witnesses in their own behalf and to crossexamine other parties and witnesses; to have the power of subpoena exercised in their behalf; and to have access to a written record of such hearing. The superintendent or his representative shall not be bound by the strict rules of evidence prevailing in courts of law or equity. The testimony taken shall be under oath and a record shall be made of the proceedings. A written decision shall be made by the superintendent or his designated representative separately setting forth findings of fact and conclusions of law. A copy of such decision shall be forwarded to the commissioner.

c. If the superintendent finds that a violation of this section has occurred, the superintendent shall issue an order which shall do one or more of the following:

(1) impose a fine in an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each violation, to be paid to the people of the state of New York;

(2) award compensatory damages to the person aggrieved by such violation;

(3) require the regulated creditor to cease and desist from such unlawful discriminatory practices;

(4) require the regulated creditor to take such further affirmative action as will effectuate the purposes of this section, including, but not limited to, granting the credit which was the subject of the complaint.

d. Any complainant, respondent or other person aggrieved by any order or final determination of the superintendent may obtain judicial review thereof.

8. Where the superintendent makes a determination that a regulated creditor has engaged in or is engaging in discriminatory practices, the superintendent is empowered to issue appropriate orders to such creditor pursuant to the banking law.11 Such orders may be issued without the necessity of a complaint being filed by an aggrieved person.

9. Whenever any creditor makes application to the superintendent or the banking board to take any action requiring consideration by the superintendent or such board of the public interest.

11 See Section 39 of the Banking Law.

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296-a.10-12

297.1-2

and the needs and convenience thereof, or requiring a finding that the financial responsibility, experience, charter, and general fitness of the applicant, and of the members thereof if the applicant be a co-partnership or association, and of the officers and directors thereof if the applicant be a corporation, are such as to command the confidence of the community and to warrant belief that the business will be operated honestly, fairly, and efficiently, such creditor shall certify to the superintendent compliance with the provisions of this section. In the event that the records of the banking department show that such creditor has been found to be in violation of this section, such creditor shall describe what action has been taken with respect to its credit policies and procedures to remedy such violation or violations. The superintendent shall, in approving the foregoing applications and making the foregoing findings, give appropriate weight to compliance with this section.

10. Any complaint filed with the superintendent pursuant to this section shall be so filed within one year after the occurrence of the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice.

11. The superintendent is hereby empowered to promulgate rules and regulations hereunder to effectuate the purposes of this section.

12. The provisions of this section, as they relate to age, shall not apply to persons under the age of eighteen years.

297. Procedure.

1. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice may, by himself or his attorney-at-law, make, sign and file with the division a verified complaint in writing which shall state the name and address of the person alleged to have committed the unlawful discriminatory practice complained of and which shall set forth the particulars thereof and contain such other information as may be required by the division. The commissioner of labor or the attorney-general, or the chairman of the commission on quality of care for the mentally disabled, or the division on its own motion may, in like manner, make, sign and file such complaint. In connection with the filing of such complaint, the attorney-general is authorized to take proof, issue subpoenas and administer oaths in the manner provided in the civil practice law and rules. Any employer whose employees, or some of them, refuse or threaten to refuse to cooperate with the provisions of this article, may file with the division a verified complaint asking for assistance by conciliation or other remedial action.

2. a. After the filing of any complaint, the division shall promptly serve a copy thereof upon the respondent and all persons it deems to be necessary parties, and make prompt investigation in connection therewith. Within one hundred eighty days after a complaint is filed, the division shall determine whether it has jurisdiction, and, if so, whether there is probable cause to believe that the person named in the complaint, hereinafter referred to as the respondent, has engaged or is engaging in an unlawful discriminatory practice. If it finds with respect to any respondent that it lacks jurisdiction or that probable cause does not exist, the commissioner shall issue and cause to be served on the complainant an order dismissing such allegations of the said complaint as to such respondent.

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b. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph a of this subdivision, with respect to housing discrimination only, after the filing of any complaint, the division shall, within thirty days after receipt, serve a copy thereof upon the respondent and all persons it deems to be necessary parties, and make prompt investigation in connection therewith. Within one hundred days after a complaint is filed, the division shall determine whether it has jurisdiction and, if so, whether there is probable cause to believe that the person named in the complaint, hereinafter referred to as the respondent, has engaged or is engaging in an unlawful discriminatory practice. If it finds with respect to any respondent that it lacks jurisdiction or that probable cause does not exist, the commissioner shall issue and cause to be served on the complainant an order dismissing such allegations of the said complaint as to such respondent.

3. a. If in the judgment of the division the circumstances so warrant, it may, at any time after the filing of the complaint, endeavor to eliminate such unlawful discriminatory practice by conference, conciliation and persuasion. Each conciliation agreement shall include provisions requiring the respondent to refrain from the commission of unlawful discriminatory practices in the future and may contain such further provisions as may be agreed upon by the division and the respondent, including a provision for the entry in the supreme court in any county in the judicial district where the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice was committed, or where any respondent resides or maintains an office for the transaction of business, or where the housing accommodation, land or commercial space specified in the complaint is located, of a consent decree embodying the terms of the conciliation agreement. The division shall not disclose what has transpired in the course of such endeavors.

b. If the respondent and the division agree upon conciliation terms the division shall serve upon the complainant a copy of the proposed conciliation agreement. If the complainant agrees to the terms of the agreement or fails to object to such terms within fifteen days after its service upon him, the division shall issue an order embodying such conciliation agreement. If the complainant objects to the agreement he shall serve a specification of his objections upon the division within such period. Unless such objections are met or withdrawn within ten days after service thereof, the division shall notice the complainant for hearing.

c. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the division may, where it finds the terms of a conciliation agreement to be in the public interest, execute such agreement, and limit the hearing to the objections of the complainant. If, however, the division finds that the complainant’s objections to the proposed conciliation agreement are without substance or that noticing the complaint for hearing would be otherwise undesirable, the division may in its unreviewable discretion, at any time prior to a hearing before a hearing examiner dismiss the complaint on the grounds of administrative convenience.

d. If a conciliation agreement is entered into, the division shall serve a copy of the order embodying such agreement upon all parties to the proceeding, and if a party to any such proceeding is a regulated creditor, the division shall forward a copy of the order embodying such agreement to the superintendent.

4. a. [Effective until June 30, 1994.] (i) Within two hundred seventy days after a complaint is filed, or within one hundred twenty days after the court has reversed and remanded an order of the division dismissing a complaint for lack of jurisdiction or for want of probable cause, unless the division has dismissed the complaint or issued an order stating the terms of a

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

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297.4

conciliation agreement not objected to by the complainant, the division shall cause to be issued and served a written notice, together with a copy of such complaint, as the same may have been amended, requiring the respondent or respondents to answer the charges of such complaint and appear at a public hearing before a hearing examiner at a time not less than five nor more than fifteen days after such service and at a place to be fixed by the division and specified in such notice. The place of any such hearing shall be the office of the division or such other place as may be designated by the division. The case in support of the complaint shall be presented by one of the attorneys or agents of the division and, at the option of the complainant, by his attorney. With the consent of the division, the case in support of the complainant may be presented solely by his attorney. No person who shall have previously made the investigation, engaged in a conciliation proceeding or caused the notice to be issued shall act as a hearing examiner in suchcase. Attempts at conciliation shall not be received in evidence. At least two business days prior to the hearing the respondent shall, and any necessary party may, file a written answer to the complaint, sworn to subject to the penalties of perjury, with the division and serve a copy upon all other parties to the proceeding. A respondent who has filed an answer, or whose default in answering has been set aside for good cause shown may appear at such hearing in person or otherwise, with or without counsel, cross examine witnesses and the complainant and submit testimony. The complainant and all parties shall be allowed to present testimony in person or by counsel and cross examine witnesses. The hearing examiner may in his discretion permit any per son who has a substantial personal interest to intervene as a party, and may require that necessary parties not already parties be joined. The division or the complainant shall have the power reasonably and fairly to amend any complaint, and the respondent and any other party shall have like power to amend his answer. The hearing examiner shall not be bound by the strict rules of evidence prevailing in courts of law or equity. The testimony taken at the hearing shall be under oath and a record made.

(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, the commissioner of human rights shall establish a voluntary arbitration procedure in cooperation with the New York state human rights arbitration advisory committee. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to enable complainants and respondents to voluntarily submit complaints which have been filed with the division to impartial arbitration. The division shall fully notify complainants and respondents eligible to elect arbitration of their rights and responsibilities, including limitations on their right of appeal. All information provided shall be in or be accompanied by an explanation in plain English or other languages as necessary. The arbitration program shall be administered by the American Arbitration Association and the arbitrator shall be selected from the panel of arbitrators established by such association. A submission to arbitration shall divest the commissioner of further jurisdiction over the matter and the determination of the arbitrator shall be final, subject only to review in accordance with article seventy-five of the civil practice law and rules. The cost of such arbitration shall not be borne by the division but shall be provided for by the rules and regulations of the commissioner. The commissioner is authorized to apply for and receive such grant monies as may be available to support the arbitration program.

The commissioner of human rights shall establish a human rights arbitration advisory committee to assist and advise him or her in the promulgation of rules and regulations, and the implementation and functioning of the voluntary arbitration procedure. The committee shall consist of seven members, three of whom shall be appointed by the governor with at least one of these appointments being a member of the New York state bar association; two of whom shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly; and two of whom shall be appointed by the majority leader of the senate. Committee members shall be chosen to represent a balance of complainant and respondent interests. The governor shall designate a chairperson of the committee. The chairperson and the commissioner of human rights each shall have the authority to convene the committee from time to time, as they deem appropriate. The committee shall report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the majority leader of the senate on or before March 31, 1997, regarding the operation of the arbitration program; and the committee shall be enaltd to receive from the commissioner of human rights such information as is necessary to monitor the arbitration program. The commissioner of human rights shall report to the governor, the speaker

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

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of the assembly and the majority leader of the senate semi-annually regarding the operation of the voluntary arbitration procedure.

This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law, and shall expire on June 30, 1997, on which date the provisions of this act shall be deemed repealed; provided that any rules and regulations necessary for implementation of this act on its effective date shall be promulgated on or before such date.

b. If the respondent falls to answer the complaint, the hearing examiner designated to conduct the hearing may enter the default and the hearing shall proceed on the evidence in support of the complaint. Such default may be set aside only for good cause shown upon equitable terms and conditions.

c. Within one hundred eighty days after the commencement of such hearing, a determination shall be made and an order served as hereinafter provided. If, upon all theevidence at the hearing, the commissioner shall find that a respondent has engaged in any unlawful discriminatory practice as defined in this article, the commissioner shall state findings of fact and shall issue and cause to be served on such respondent an order, based on such findings and setting them forth, and including such of the following provisions as in the judgment of the division will effectuate the purposes of this article:

(i) requiring such respondent to cease and desist from such unlawful discriminatory practice;

(ii) requiring such respondent to take such affirmative action, including (but not limited to) hiring, reinstatement or upgrading of employees, with or without back pay, restoration to membership in any respondent labor organization, admission to or participation in a guidance program, apprenticeship training program, on-the-job training program or other occupational training or retraining program, the extension of full, equal and unsegregated accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges to all persons, granting the credit which was the subject of any complaint; evaluating applicants for membership in a place of accommodation without discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability or marital status, and without retaliation or discrimination based on opposition to practices forbidden by this article or filing a complaint, testifying or assisting in any proceeding under this article;

(iii) awarding of compensatory damages to the person aggrieved by such practice;

(iv) awarding of punitive damages, in cases of housing discrimination only, in an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars, to the person aggrieved by such practice;

(v) requiring payment to the state of profits obtained by a respondent through the commission of unlawful discriminatory acts described in subdivision three-b of section two hundred ninety-six of this article; and

(vi) requiring a report of the manner of compliance. If, upon all the evidence, the commissioner shall find that a respondent has not engaged in any such unlawful discriminatory practice, he shall state findings of fact and shall issue and caused to be served on the complainant an order based on such findings and setting them forth dismissing the said complaint as to such respondent. A copy of each order issued by the commissioner shall be delivered in all cases to the attorney general, the secretary of state, if he has issued a license to the respondent, and such other public officers as the division deems proper, and if any such order issued by the commissioner concerns a regulated creditor, the commissioner shall forward a copy of any such order to the superintendent. A copy of any complaint filed against any respondent who has previously entered into a conciliation agreement pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision three of this section or as to whom an order of the division has previously been entered pursuant to this paragraph shall be delivered to the attorney general, to the secretary of state if he has issued a license to the respondent and to such other public officers as the division deems proper, and if any such respondent is a regulated creditor, the commissioner shall forward a copy of any such complaint to the superintendent.

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297.5-9, 298

d. The division shall establish rules of practice to govern, expedite and effectuate the foregoing procedure and its own actions thereunder.

5. Any complaint filed pursuant to this section must be so filed within one year after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice.

6. At any time after the filing of a complaint with the division alleging an unlawful discriminatory practice under this article, if the division determines that the respondent is doing or procuring to be done any act tending to render ineffectual any order the commissioner may enter in such proceeding, the commissioner may apply to the supreme court in any county where thealleged unlawful discriminatory practice was committed, or where any respondent resides or maintains an office for the transaction of business, or if the complaint alleges an unlawful discriminatory practice under subdivision two-a or paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subdivision five of section two hundred ninety-six of this article, where the housing accommodation, land or commercial space specified in the complaint is located, or, if no supreme court justice is available in such county, in any other county within the judicial district, for an order requiring the respondents or any of them to show cause why they should not be enjoined from doing or procuring to be done such act. The order to show cause may contain a temporary restraining order and shall be served in the manner provided therein. On the return date of the order to show cause, and after affording all parties an opportunity to be heard, if the court deems it necessary to prevent the respondents from rendering ineffectual an order relating to the subject matter of the complaint, it may grant appropriate injunctive relief upon such terms and conditions as it deems proper.

7. Not later than one year from the date of a conciliation agreement or an order issued under this section, and at any other times in its discretion, the division shall investigate whether the respondent is complying with the terms of such agreement or order. Upon a finding of non-compliance, the division shall take appropriate action to assure compliance.

8. No officer, agent or employee of the division shall make public with respect to a particular person without his consent information from reports obtained by the division except as necessary to the conduct of a proceeding under this section.

9. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice shall have a cause of action in any court of appropriate jurisdiction for damages and such other remedies as may be appropriate, unless such person had filed a complaint hereunder or with any local commission on human rights, or with the superintendent pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred ninety-six-a of this chapter, provided that, where the division has dismissed such complaint on the grounds of administrative convenience, such person shall maintain all rights to bring suit as if no complaint had been filed. A complaint filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to comply with the requirements of 42 USC 2000e-5(c) and 42 USC 12117(a) and 29 USC 633(b) shall not constitute the filing of a complaint within the meaning of this subdivision. No person who has initiated any action in a court of competent jurisdiction or who has an action pending before any administrative agency under any other law of the state based upon an act which would be an unlawful discriminatory practice under this article, may file a complaint with respect to the same grievance under this section or under section two hundred ninety-six-a.

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298. Judicial review and enforcement.

Any complainant, respondent or other person aggrieved by an order of the commissioner which is an order after public hearing, a cease and desist order, an order awarding damages, an order dismissing a complaint, or by an order of the division which makes a final disposition of a complaint may obtain judicial review thereof, and the division may obtain an order of court for

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

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its enforcement and for the enforcement of any order of the commissioner which has not been appealed to the court, in a proceeding as provided in this section. Such proceeding shall be brought in the supreme court in the county wherein the unlawful discriminatory practice which is the subject of the order occurs or wherein any person required in the order to cease and desist from an unlawful discriminatory practice or to take other affirmative action resides or transacts business. Such proceeding shall be initiated by the filing of a notice of petition and petition in such court. Thereafter, at a time and in a manner to be specified by rules of court, the division shall file with the court a written transcript of the record of all prior proceedings. Upon the filing of a notice of petition and petition, the court shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding and of the questions determined therein, except that where the order sought to be reviewed was made as a result of a public hearing held pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision four of section two hundred ninety-seven of this article, the court shall make an order directing that the proceeding be transferred for disposition to the appellate division of the supreme court in the judicial department embracing the county in which the proceeding was commenced. The court shall have power to grant such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper, and to make and enter upon the pleadings, testimony, and proceedings set forth in such transcript an order enforcing, modifying, and enforcing as so modified, or setting aside in whole or in part such order. No objection that has not been urged in prior proceedings shall be considered by the court, unless the failure or neglect to urge such objection shall be excused because of extraordinary circumstances. Any party may move the court to remit the case to the division in the interests of justice for the purpose of adducing additional specified and material evidence and, seeking findings thereon, provided he shows reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce such evidence in prior proceedings. The findings of facts on which such order is based shall be conclusive if supported by sufficient evidence on the record considered as a whole. All such proceedings shall be heard and determined by the court and any appeal taken from its judgment or order shall be reviewed by the appropriate appellate court as expeditiously as possible and with lawful precedence over other matters. The jurisdiction of the courts over these proceedings, as provided for herein, shall be exclusive and their judgments and orders shall be final, subject to appellate review in the same manner and form and with the same effect as provided for appeals from a judgment in a special proceeding. The division’s copy of the testimony shall be available at all reasonable times to all parties for examination without cost and for the purposes of judicial review of such order. Any appeal under this section and any proceeding, if instituted under article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules to which the division or the board is a party shall be heard on the record without requirement of printing. The division may appear in court by one of its attorneys. A proceeding under this section when instituted by any complainant, respondent or other person aggrieved must be instituted within sixty days after the service of such order.

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298-a.

Application of article to certain acts committed outside the state of New York.

1. The provisions of this article shall apply as hereinafter provided to an act committed outside this state against a resident of this state or against a corporation organized under the laws of this state or authorized to do business in this state, if such act would constitute an unlawful discriminatory practice if committed within this state.

2. If a resident person or domestic corporation violates any provision of this article by virtue of the provisions of this section, this article shall apply to such person or corporation in the same manner and to the same extent as such provisions would have applied had such act been committed within this state except that the penal provisions of such article shall not be applicable.

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

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3. If a non-resident person or foreign corporation violates any provision of this article by virtue of the provisions of this section, such person or corporation shall be prohibited from transacting any business within this state. Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, the provisions of section two hundred ninety-seven of this chapter governing the procedure for determining and processing unlawful discriminatory practices shall apply to violations defined by this subdivision insofar as such provisions are or can be made applicable. If the division of human rights has reason to believe that a non-resident person or foreign corporation has committed or is about to commit outside of this state an act which if committed within this state would constitute an unlawful discriminatory practice and that such act is in violation of any provision of this articleby virtue of the provisions of this section, it shall serve a copy of the complaint upon such person or corporation by personal service either within or without the state or by registered mail, return receipt requested, directed to such person or corporation at his or its last known place of residence or business, together with a notice requiring such person or corporation to appear at a hearing, specifying the time and place thereof, and to show cause why a cease and desist order should not be issued against such person or corporation. If such person or corporation shall fail to appear at such hearing or does not show sufficient cause why such order should not be issued, the division shall cause to be issued and served upon such person or corporation an order to cease or desist from the act or acts complained of. Failure to comply with any such order shall be followed by the issuance by the division of an order prohibiting such person or corporation from transacting any business within this state. A person or corporation who or which transacts business in this state in violation of any such order is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. Any order issued pursuant to this subdivision may be vacated by the division upon satisfactory proof of compliance with such order. All orders issued pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to judicial review in the manner prescribed by article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.

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299. Penal provision.

Any person, employer, labor organization or employment agency, who or which shall wilfully resist, prevent, impede or interfere with the division or any of its employees or representatives in the performance of duty under this article, or shall wilfully violate an order of the division or commissioner, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary, or county jail, for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by both; but procedure for the review of the order shall not be deemed to be such wilful conduct.

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300. Construction.

The provisions of this article shall be construed liberally for the accomplishment of the purposes thereof. Nothing contained in this article shall be deemed to repeal any of the provisions of the civil rights law or any other law of this state relating to discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin; but, as to acts declared unlawful by section two hundred ninety-six of this article, the procedure herein provided shall, while pending, be exclusive; and the final determination therein shall exclude any other action, civil or criminal, based on the same grievance of the individual concerned. If such individual institutes any action based on such grievance without resorting to the procedure provided in this article, he may not subsequently resort to the procedure herein.

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

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301. Separability.

If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this article or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, shall, for any reason, be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of this article.12

12 Section 3 of Chapter 662 of the Laws of 1975 reads as follows: “Sec. 3. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part of subdivision thirteen of section two hundred ninety-six of the executive law or of section two hundred ninety-eight-a of the executive law, as added by this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstances shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction, to be invalid or unconstitutional, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, or the application thereof to other persons or circumstances but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part thereof, or the person or circumstances directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered”.

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

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INDEX

Subject Page

Accessibility housing 296.2a, 296.18

 

11, 19, 20

Advertising 296.1, 296.5

9, 14, 15

Advisory councils 295.8

8

Affirmative action plans 295.9, 297.4

8, 26

Age employment 296.3a

12

Age exemptions housing 296.5

15, 16

Age restrictions liquor 296.1, 296.3a

9, 13

Amendments to complaints and answers 297.4

5

Aiding, abetting, coercing 296.6

16

Appeals 297.9

27

Apprenticeship programs 296.1a

10

Arbitration 297.4(a)(ii)

25

Authority for Human Rights Law 290

1

Arrest records 296.15, 296.16

19

Credit 296.16

19

Employment 296.15

19

Inquiries 296.16

19

Licensing 296.15

19

Blacklists 296.13

18

Blind persons 296.5, 296.14

16, 19

Blockbusting 296.3b

14

Board of Fire Commissioners 296.9

17

Boycotts 296.13

18

Cease and desist orders — 297.4

26

Character, good moral 296.15

19

Civil rights 291

2

Education 291.2, 296.3at 296.4

13, 14

Employment 291.1, 296.1, 1at 3at 10, 11, 1

9–19

Housing 291.2, 296.2a, 3b, 5, 17, 19, 296a

11–20

Infant Care 291.3

2

Public Accommodation 291.2, 292.9, 296.2

2, 3, 10

Civil service exception 296.1

9

Commercial space 292.13

5

Commissioner 292.7, 193.2

3, 7

Powers of commissioner 295.1

7

Compensatory damages — 297.4

26

Complaints 295.6

7

Compliance 297.4

26

Compliance investigation 297.7

27

Conciliation 296.8, 297.3

16, 24

Consent decree 297.3

24

Construction of Act 300

29

Contests 292.9

3

Credit 292.20

5, 6, 9, 21

Complaints against regulated creditors 296a.6

21

Income discounting 296a.1

21

Inquiries 296a.1, 296a.2

20, 21

Age 296a.3a

21

Exception 296a.12

23

Childbearing capacity 296a.1

20

Marital history 296a.4

21

Liability of spouses 296a.5

21

Procedure against regulated creditors 296a.7

22

Rejection, reasons 296a.4

21

Terms 296a.1

20

Credit reporting bureau 292.23

6

Creditor 292.22

6

Regulated creditor 292.24

6

Superintendent 292.25

6

Criminal conviction records 296.15

19

Crisis prevention 295.11

8

Damages 297.4

26

Default 297.4

25

Definitions 292

26

Determinations 297.2

23

3

Disability 292.21

6

Exception 296.3a

13

Housing 296.2a, 296.18

11, 19

Housing discounts 296.19

20

Reasonable accommodations 296.18

19

Wheelchairs 296.2a

11

Discounts housing, over 65 296.17

19

Housing, disabled 296.19

20

Discrimination 292.19

5

Discriminatory practices 296

9–21

Exceptions:

Age credit 296a.12

23

Regulation of alcoholic beverages 296.l

10

Rental of publicly assisted housing 296.3a

12

55 years old or older housing 296.5

15

Civil service inquiries 296.1

9

Sex college dormitories 296.3a

12

Housing for individuals of same sex 296.5

15

Retirement 296.3a

12

Dismissal of action for administrative convenience 297.3

24

Division of Human Rights creation 293

7

Commissioner, Head of division 293

3, 7

Powers and duties of division 295

7

Dogs guide, service, hearing 296.14

18

Dormitories 296.2a

12

Educational institutions 292.9, 296.3a, 296.4

3, 13, 14

EEOC filings 297.9

27

Election of remedies 297.9

27

Employee 292.6

2

Employer 292.6

2

Employment, unlawful practices 296.1, 296.1a

9, 10

Affirmative action plans 295.9

8

Religious holidays and observances 296.10

17

Employment agency 292.2

2

4

Evidence, rules of 297.4

25

Exoffenders employment, credit, licensing 296.15

19

Familial status 292.26

6

Family 292.12

4

Fire commissioners, board of 296.9

17

Firefighters, volunteer 296.9

17

Foreign corporations 298a.3

29

Gifts and grants 295.14

8

Hearing examiner 292.18

5

Hearing impaired — 296.14

19

Hearings 295.7, 297.4

8, 24, 25

Housing 296.5, 17, 18, 19, 296a, 297.2(b)

14, 16, 19, 20, 24

Housing accommodation 292.10

3

Injunctions and temporary restraining orders 297.6

27

Immunity 295.7

8

Investigations 295.6, 297.2

7, 23

Judicial review 298

28

Jurisdiction 297.2

23

Labor organizations 292.3, 296.1a

2,10

Land 296.5

15

Local agencies, promotion of 295.13

8

Longarm jurisdiction 298a

28

Multiple dwelling 292.12, 296.18

4,20

National origin 292.8

3

Necessary parties 292.16

5

New York City, concurrent jurisdiction 295.16

9

Nonresidents, transaction of business 298a.3

29

Nursing homes 296.5

16

Order after hearing 297.4

26

Parties to proceeding 292.17

5

Penal provisions 299

29

Person 292.1

2

Pregnancy leave 296.1

10

Probable cause 297.2

23

Procedure 297

23

Public accommodation 292.9, 296.2

3, 10

Public disclosure 297.8

27

Public hearing 297.4

24

Public information 295.9

8

Publicly assisted housing 292.11, 296.2a

3, 4, 11

Punitive damages — 297.4

26

Real estate broker 292.14

5

Real estate salesman 292.15

5

Reasonable accommodations 296.2a, 8296.18

11, 19

Reasonable modifications, disabled 296.2a

11

Regulated creditor 292.24

6

Religious holidays 296.10

17

Exceptions 296.10

17

Burden of proof 296.10

17

Exemptions 296.11

18

Religious observances 296.10

17

Rentals 296.2a, 296.5

11, 14

Report of Compliance — 297.4

26

Representation by counsel 297.4

25

Retaliation 296.1, 296.7

10, 16

Retirement 296.3a

12

Exceptions

13

Rights of respondent 297.4

24

Rules and regulations 295.5

7

Rules of practice 297.4

27

Seal — 295.15

9

Separability 301

30

Sex housing exception 296.5

15

Statute of limitations 297.5

27

Subpoena power 295.7

8

Superintendent 292.25

6

Technical assistance 295.12

8

Transcripts — 297.4

28

Unlawful discriminatory practices 292.4

2, 9, 21

Volunteer firefighters 296.9

17

Witnesses 297.4

25

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http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/html/laws/nys_hr_law.shtml

**

2.(a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person, being the owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, sex or disability or marital status of any person, directly or indirectly, to refuse, withhold from or deny to such person any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges thereof, including the extension of credit, or, directly or indirectly, to publish, circulate, issue, display, post or mail any written or printed communication, notice or advertisement, to the effect that any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of any such place shall be refused, withheld from or denied to any person on account of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, or disability or marital status, or that the patronage or custom thereat of any person of or purporting to be of any particular race, creed, color, national origin, sex or marital status, or having a disability is unwelcome, objectionable or not acceptable, desired or solicited.

Human Rights Law (as amended through July 31, 1994)

**

Follow these links to find information on the following laws:

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Telecommunications Act
Fair Housing Act
Air Carrier Access Act
Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act
National Voter Registration Act
Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Rehabilitation Act
Architectural Barriers Act
Statute Citations

http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/html/laws/federal_law.shtml

**

Disability Rights

Many low income people have physical, mental, and learning disabilities that affect their ability to access government benefits. Almost one-half of the families receiving welfare assistance have a parent or child with a disability, a rate that is almost three times higher than those not receiving welfare. Federal, state, and local governments must comply with federal disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the operation of their programs. Yet many agencies have done little to address their obligation under these laws and provide a meaningful opportunity to access programs and benefits.

The National Center for Law and Economic Justice has been a leader in using disability rights laws to improve government programs and services for low income individuals. The Center welcomes inquiries from advocates on these issues and opportunities to work with advocates on these issues. Feel free to contact us.

http://www.nclej.org/key-issues-disability-rights.php

**

·        Also the above site includes these articles of info –

Highlights of NCLEJ Advocacy:

  • Benefits Expedited for Over 9,000 Maryland Medicaid Applicants (May 2013)
  • New Yorkers Living with HIV/AIDs Secure Critical Class Action Settlement (April 2013)
  • NCLEJ and Other Advocates Sue Missouri for Medicaid Change that Would Cause Unnecessary Institutionalization of Dialysis Patients (June 2012)
  • Madison County, NY, Improves Policies for People with Disabilities (October 2011)
  • NCLEJ Comments on Health Insurance Exchanges (September 2011) (pdf)
  • Improving Automated Medicaid Eligibility Systems: NCLEJ Comments on HHS Proposals (January 2011) (pdf)
  • NCLEJ and LS-NYC Provide Social Security Administration Extensive Comments on Conducting an Agency Self-Evaluation under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (December 2010) (pdf)
  • NCLEJ and Advocacy Center of Louisiana Urge Major Improvements in FEMA’s Draft Disaster Temporary Housing Operational Guide to Address Needs of Individuals with Disabilities (November 2010) (pdf)
  • NCLEJ Urges Strengthening of Proposed Regulations to Increase Public Participation in the Review of Medicaid Demonstration Projects. (November 2010) (pdf)
  • Health Reform Implementation: NCLEJ Comments to HHS on State Health Exchanges (October 2010) (pdf)
  • FEMA Still Falls Short in Disaster Planning for People with Disabilities (October 2010)
  • NCLEJ and Maximus:  Modernizing Public Benefits Programs:  What the Law Says State Agencies Must do to Serve People with Disabilities (August 2010) (pdf)
  • The Closed Digital Door: State Public Benefits Agencies’ Failure to Make Websites Accessible to People with Disabilities and Usable for Everyone (July 2010)
  • Lawsuit Causes FEMA to Disgorge Documents on Accessible Temporary Housing (January 2010)
  • NCLEJ Testimony on Issues on New York City WeCARE Program for Public Assistance Applicants with Disabilities (October 2007) (pdf)
  • New York Court Approves Plan to Restore Benefits to Thousands of New York Families of Children with Disabilities in Case Brought by NCLEJ and Colleagues (September 2007)
  • NCLEJ Addresses FEMA on Serious Barriers Faced By Many Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals (January 2007) (pdf)
  • NCLEJ Letter to New York State Welfare Agency on Local District Self Evaluations of ADA Compliance (September 2006) (pdf)
  • NCLEJ and Colleagues Win Settlement Requiring Accessible Trailers for Katrina Evacuees with Disabilities (September 2006)
  • Center Secures Comprehensive Policy Reforms in Virginia and New Jersey (2005)
  • Center Report Exposed New York City Welfare Agency’s Failure to Provide Home Visits to Individuals with Disabilities (June 2004)

Additional NCLEJ Materials:

  • NCLEJ releases 2011 edition of Using the Americans with Disabilities Act on Behalf of Clients in TANF Programs: A Manual for Non-Litigation Advocacy by Cary LaCheen (2011) (pdf)
  • Improving Remote Communication Between Public Benefits Agencies and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals by Cary LaCheen, 43 Clearinghouse Review 431 (Jan. – Feb. 2010) (pdf)
  • Disabilities and Welfare: A New NCLEJ Resource for Advocates.
    New Provisions of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program: Implications for Clients with Disabilities and Advocacy Opportunities by Cary LaCheen, 40 Clearinghouse Rev. 490
    (Jan. – Feb. 2007)
  • Center Prompts Reforms in New York City’s $200 Million Program for Services to Persons with Disabilities
  • Language Matters: Designing State and County Contracts for Services Under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,
    by Eileen Sweeney, Barabara Bezdek, Sharon Parrott, Carol Medaris and Cary LaCheen
    (from Jan-Feb 2002 Clearinghouse Review)
  • California Advocates Obtain Comprehensive New Policy on Screening, Evaluating and Providing Program Modifications to CalWORKS Clients with Learning Disabilities
    (from December 2001 Welfare News)
  • Protecting the Rights of TANF Applicants and Recipients with Disabilities: New Tools, Resources and Litigation
    (from March 2001 Welfare News)
  • Using Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Behalf of Clients in TANF Programs
    (from Winter 2001 Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy)

Additional Resources:

  • Settlement Agreement between Social Security Administration and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Claimants on Interpreters (pdf) (March 2011)
  • Voluntary Compliance Agreement between HHS OCR and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (pdf) (March 2011)
  • Resolution Agreement between OCR and Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance
    (pdf) (December 2006)
  • Voluntary Compliance Agreement between OCR and Oregon Department of Human Services
    (pdf) (August 2004)
  • Letter of Finding in Massachusetts OCR Complaint
    (pdf) (January 29, 2004)
  • Complaint submitted to HHS Office for Civil Rights by ACLU-Wisconsin Foundation and NAACP Milwaukee Branch regarding Wisconsin Works Program and compliance with ADA and civil rights requirements
    (pdf) (February 18, 2002)

http://www.nclej.org/key-issues-disability-rights.php

**

National Center for Law and Economic Justice

275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1506
New York, NY  10001-6708

Phone: (212) 633-6967
Fax: (212) 633-6371
Email: info (at) nclej.org

http://www.nclej.org/contact.php

**

National Disability Rights Network

The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) is the nonprofit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP) for individuals with disabilities. Collectively, the P&A/CAP network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States.

http://www.ndrn.org/index.php

**

National Disability Rights Network
900 Second Street, NE, Suite 211
Washington, DC 20002
P: 202-408-9514
F: 202-408-9520
TTY: 202-408-9521

http://www.ndrn.org/index.php

**

It is strange to own a store online that has over 49,000 products with my art and designs on them and not even earn $2 a day from it after three years. It is mind-numbing, discouraging to say the least and hopeless feeling. In the over forty years that I’ve been designing and selling things that are original, different, unique and often novel – earning from it has been no more than a nightmare. It has caused me to try harder each time but to no avail – neither online, nor in person does it work and consequently I’ve lived in something lower than poverty all of this time, but especially in the last twenty years.

If you asked me what it is like in America, it is to never get to work at a job, to never have a business succeed no matter how good or interesting or beautiful the products might be and no matter how they are created or offered to the public and to never be able to earn the living that is required to live under a good roof or to have things or to buy a car or to own a house – or even to rent one. I’m sure it is my fault – that is doubtless to be true, no matter what the external market pressures are around the world that are competing for those same dollars from sales of products – right?

I’ve certainly had help to get this far – five dollars here, thirty dollars there – to buy paints, canvases or papers, brushes, jewelry making supplies at one point, show fees occasionally – and certainly for groceries when I would’ve starved otherwise although that wasn’t very often and didn’t go very far. It seems that the lie I have believed was that through hard work, learning more, producing creative unusual designs, being innovative and inventive, sticking with it rather than giving up and working to do it better – would work. That is apparently a lie and even as of yesterday, I heard news anchors repeating it, tv shows expressing it and respected people repeating it. But it isn’t true – it is a lie. Do all those things and it will still fail – in fact, in America during my lifetime – all those efforts were bound to fail, not just when done by me – but from countless others who did it that way and failed as well.

As much as there is a national push for individuals, companies, students, industries and teams of people to be innovative and creative and inventive and extraordinary – the truth is, there is no real regard for that in reality as evidenced by the return from those activities – which is either nothing, or derision. And so, it leads me to this – having to sit in the welfare offices to get help to have a place to live, to have food to eat, to have deposits to secure a place to live and to get help to do my business in some better way that will yield a living from it rather than it continuing to deplete my resources at every turn. That makes me crazy – absolutely hopeless, despairing, feeling the futility of all the things I’ve done and efforts that I’ve made, and recognizing the total and utter devastating failure of those efforts to support me and my needs for survival.

And then, feeling all that – I come to the computer and look at the store with its 49,000 plus products and I don’t understand why they aren’t good enough to buy and why no one but a very seldom few have ever bought them. And, feeling all that, I’m overwhelmed by the feelings that I felt today and the day a week ago and the two days the week before that and the day three weeks ago when, on each occasion I sat for hours on end at the welfare office to get the financial help to have an apt deposit, some help with utility deposits and some food stamps – all to no avail. After walking up there and back one day which takes 45 minutes each way – a little longer because I had my 3 year old granddaughter in tow and on the other occasions waiting on the bus out in the 93 degree humid heat alert weather with no shade where our bus comes to pick us up – and each time with my granddaughter in tow with shoes that didn’t fit her feet well enough for her to be comfortable – I thought that at the very least, we would get the money that the governors’ office, HUD and the NYC Mayor’s office says is available to people with my disabilities and financial impoverishment.

But, no. We waited on each of those occasions, three hours or more – for nothing to get done. All they did was give us a number, where we sat and waited for hours and then gave us a number to go sit and wait in another room for hours, and then sent us away saying that either the person we had to see had already left for the day or that I would have to call the supervisor and talk to them even though they were there (but they wouldn’t let me see that person) or that there was nothing that could be done about it without me coming back to go through exactly the same thing again – which we did until today when I went by myself, and yet – then even to this day after turning in all of the paperwork and documents they needed from me three weeks ago – I still don’t have anything to show for it. Nor could they or would they answer any questions I asked – and apparently they don’t have a disabilities advocate at their office in Staten Island – neither did the NYCHA office in Brooklyn for that matter, although I know they get money to specifically provide that to me and others.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the caseworker refused to help me fill out the paperwork or even to explain what was called for in each part so that I could fill it out – at each point, no matter who I’ve talked with there – none of my questions are answered about whether I’m supposed to go fill out the paperwork for food stamps somewhere else or are they requested with what has already been filled out – why is the money to pay the apt deposits not available to me – why is there no money to move my things or to get a few household items even though the 311 and other online resources about the program says that should be available to me in this program – and how do I fill out and request a fair hearing of the matter since it is now taking so long? None of those questions were answered by any of them – not the caseworker, a Mr. Perry nor by his supervisor that I wasn’t allowed to speak to, a Ms. Welsh – nor by the customer service workers that I’ve interacted with at each occasion – nor by any one of the other various windows of workers that has had me and my granddaughter wait for hours to get some information and to know what is the status of my applications. There is no eating in their waiting rooms, no having a drink of water with us – no answers to questions and today, with a perverse smirk of joy that I don’t understand, the worker at customer service said I couldn’t be sent over to speak to the supervisor today despite that person being there – nor could he send me over to the caseworker even though he was still there as well – It must have given him perverse joy to see me again and know that I had waited another two hours at the customer service waiting area after waiting over at another set of windows where I was originally sent to see if there were any checks there to take care of these things – which of course there were not.

It has been months getting an apartment here that would be approved by NYCHA and then these people are intent on insuring that I lose my mind before ever getting to go live in it and thoroughly appear to be intentionally making it more difficult than it should be – both in requiring me to make countless trips at my own expense on the bus in the heat to get there and to have me wait for hours upon hours with my granddaughter sitting in their waiting rooms without ever getting to see the caseworker or anyone else associated with the decision-making on my case. And, evidently – it is the intention of those working at this Staten Island office of social services to make things as difficult as possible in order to cruelly and viciously beat down the people who come to them for services or help. The caseworker treated me as if I didn’t utter a word when I asked questions, ignored my requests for information about what we were doing, refused to help me fill out the papers or even to explain what was being asked for at different places in them, refused to help me find a safe place for my granddaughter to sit where she could play quietly out of his walking space, refused to explain anything we were doing or not doing, and refused to see me even on the day that we were sent over to that waiting room where we sat for three hours waiting to see him and he was told to see us by the supervisor of the customer service area to find out if my paperwork and documents were right or not. That was the second time going over there and he refused to see me or talk with me after waiting for an hour plus in one part of the building for customer service to tell me to go over to see him and then sitting over in his part of the building in a waiting room waiting over two more hours there – just for him to refuse to see me or to answer any questions about what had actually been applied for or not applied for or what else I needed to do or whether the paperwork and documents I had brought were right or not – or any damn thing.

The biggest problem is that I sit there and think about those efforts I’ve made to relearn to talk and walk and function and stay emotionally stable and to not have seizures and to live independently in the community rather than in some institution as a vegetable – and I think of the vast number of days (and nights) that I’ve worked 17 and 18 hours a day for days upon days on end over the course of the last twenty plus years – for nothing to be accomplished from it. I’ve listened to people stand next to my paintings screaming at me that there is no money in it and that I’ll never be able to sell any of it and when did I ever sell any of it and what makes me think I could ever sell any of it and why would anybody want any of it or ever buy any of it or anything else I could ever create or write or invent or innovate or know or say or research or produce – why would I ever believe anybody would ever like anything like that? And this isn’t a picture in my mind of one person or a dozen saying that – it is family members, friends, ex-husbands, ex-friends, landlords, social workers, mental health professionals, psychiatrists, psychologists, business people, investor type business people, other artists, AA friends, close friends, and store owners in the community. So why would I think of all that when I’m sitting in those waiting rooms as if those screaming words were hitting me all over again as the images of all these products I’ve created over the years and on my store are fluttering by my mind’s eye? It is because none of it makes sense to me and sitting in the welfare office after the first half hour of telling my toddler grandbaby, I”m sorry you’re hungry – we still have to wait – thinking over those people screaming at me about being a failure is the only thing running through my mind along with the feelings of despair, futility, uselessness, worthlessness, hopelessness, frustration, disappointment, grief, and confusion. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen the kinds of things people buy. I know a person who was given $2,000 to stack rocks three feet high as a “sculpture” without any real artistic education or feel for any of it in any artistic manner, but no – that is ok. If I stacked rocks three feet high, the only thing it would bring me would be a trip to the mental hospital – it wouldn’t be a check for $2,000 as he was given. That is the futility of it. There are no odds of success apparently. I was the one foolish enough to believe in the American dream – not knowing that it was only available to others but not to me, even doing the same things with the same level of proficiency and knowledge.

And that floats through my mind today as I’m sitting here supposed to bring good things to the world, to express the beautiful things that are on my store and in my writings on my blog and in the research that I’ve been doing in order to create and invent things and to help in my community. It all seems rather pointless. I know in my heart that I am uniquely suited to bring some things that are good into the world that no one else would even think to do or to create or to innovate or to invent – that is absolutely true for any of us alive today. I know that and yet, what purpose does it have if I cannot make my own living out of it and can’t have the things I need in order to survive? What point does it have when it brings me nothing but contempt from the communities where I live or where I go or where I would want to participate? What difference does it make that I’ve done these things and created and written these things? I’m not paid for them. People don’t buy them. They don’t make any money for me and don’t have any value to even sell my rights to them – no one would pay me $20 each for the copyrights to the images, to the written materials, to the research, to any of it – what could possibly be good out of any of it when it has done nothing but bankrupted me and left me to be nothing more than a chronically poor welfare case?

America has never treated its inventors and creators as a national treasure anyway. I should’ve expected to be treated like shit I suppose, at least that would’ve been realistic. But, I didn’t know that programs paid for and sponsored with funding for the intention of providing startup and operating moneys to people like me – would never be available to me. I didn’t know that. And, I didn’t know that no matter how much of my personal money and time and efforts were put into it – those things would never be considered of any value for my part of the investment into it. I never knew that. And, I probably didn’t want to accept how futile and worthless the efforts would be – it sort of undermines making those efforts to accept those things as facts. However, I can say today – that America feeds millions of dollars every year to Rush Limbaugh to say whatever mind-numbing lie, fallacy or half-truth crosses his mind, gives millions upon millions of dollars to Wall Street brokers to fail over half the time with it and lose the money, gives hundreds of millions of dollars to every single despot, dictator, vicious and cruel regime in the world that is known to abuse their citizens and provides trillions of dollars to some of the stupidest unproductive and useless things ever known to mankind – but America wouldn’t want to waste one dollar on a postcard with any image on it that I’ve created – and that includes the members of my own families and every friend I’ve ever had.

Now that sucks.

– cricketdiane

**

The Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York’s (CIDNY) goal is to ensure full integration, independence and equal opportunity for all people with disabilities by removing barriers to the social, economic, cultural and civic life of the community. – See more at: http://www.cidny.org/#sthash.7HNdVIDs.dpuf

http://www.cidny.org/

**

CIDNY Is Your Voice
CIDNY is the voice of people with disabilities in New York City. Our staff includes social workers, lawyers and other highly qualified professionals, most of whom are people with disabilities. Along with their professional credentials, the staff all have a strong belief in self-determination and bring valuable life experiences and insights to their work. CIDNY’s staff is also ethnically diverse, with language capacity to assist consumers in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, and American Sign Language.

CIDNY speaks for everyone who lives with a disability, whether it came at birth, by injury, disease, or during the process of aging. Together we educate the public. We advocate for our civil rights and a strong safety net of benefits and services. CIDNY makes sure that our voices are heard where and when issues affecting our lives are decided.

CIDNY Advocacy/Policy
Throughout our history, CIDNY has advised government officials on ways to make public services, like transportation, health insurance, education and entitlements work better. We monitor public and private iniatives that affect people with disabilities and offer constructive solutions to problems we see. CIDNY conducts an array of training and technical assistance activities for public officials, health care workers, and other service providers on disability awareness and disability-related issues. CIDNY also provides information and workshops for its consumers on everyday skills, such as searching for housing, budgeting, transportation, housekeeping, self-advocacy, goals planning, and attendant management.

CIDNY’s Consumer Services
CIDNY’s offices in Manhattan and Queens provide benefits counseling, direct services (e.g. housing assistance, transition services for youth with disabilities, employment-related assistance, healthcare access, peer support groups), information and referrals, and recreational activities. All CIDNY’s services are free. – See more at: http://www.cidny.org/about-us.php#sthash.MDNsZcSD.dpuf

http://www.cidny.org/about-us.php

**

Disability Rights

Center Prompts Reforms in New York City’s $200 Million Program for Services to Persons with Disabilities

After New York City announced that it would spend $200 million to hire private contractors to serve more than 135,000 welfare recipients with disabilities over three years, we discovered that the City was not contemplating any meaningful contract provisions to avoid a repetition of past ADA violations by the City and its contractors. We pressed our concerns in little-used contract hearings and won contract changes to improve medical assessment services for those with disabilities.

 

Additional Information:

 

Testimony-WECAREProgramNewYorkCityPublicAssistanceApplicantsRecipients-Disabilities-2007


Welfare Advocacy in the Privatized Era: A Case Study of Advocacy to Shape the Welfare Disability Assessment Process in New York City (from May, 2004 Welfare News)

Georgia Advocates Launch Website on Using Disability Rights Law to Improve Welfare Programs (from December, 2003 Welfare Bulletin)

Using the ADA to Protect the Rights of Individuals with Disabilities in TANF Programs (Center Training Outline) (July, 2002)

 

Center Files OCR Complaint Against NYC Welfare Agency

Complaint (April 2, 2002)

Press Release (April 2, 2002)

Welfare News Article (April, 2002)

http://www.nclej.org/disability_reforms.php

**

Housing

The NYC Commission on Human Rights protects individuals from discrimination in housing based on the protected classes under the Law and enforces the NYC Human Rights Law, promoting equal opportunity and prohibiting discriminatory practices that unfairly limit the housing choices of protected groups, or individuals.

You are covered under the Law if you reside in an/a:

  • Apartment building or multiple family dwelling
  • Co-op
  • Condominium
  • Government-assisted housing
  • Residential hotel

You are not covered by the Law if:

  • You are a resident of a two-family house where the owner or a member of the owner’s family resides in that house and the available housing accommodation was not advertised.
  • You rent a room or rooms in non-government assisted housing where the owner resides.

* SROs (Single Room Occupancy) and hotels may be considered public accommodations.

Unlawful practices based on an individual’s membership in a protected class include:

  • Refusing to sell, rent, or lease housing
  • Misrepresenting the availability of housing
  • Setting different terms, conditions, or privileges for the sale, rental, or lease of housing
  • Providing different housing services or facilities
  • Posting discriminatory advertising or marketing that indicates a preference, limitation, or discrimination based on a protected class (e.g., ‘no children’ or ‘married couples only’)
  • Refusing to provide a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability
  • Steering a potential homebuyer or renter to, or away from, an area on the basis of race or national origin
  • Pressuring, for profit, homeowners to sell by exploiting ethnic, racial, or other demographic changes (blockbusting)
  • Threatening, coercing, or intimidating individuals because they exercise their fair housing rights or assist others in doing so

Unlawful lending and credit practices include:

  • Refusing to make a mortgage loan to a qualified applicant due to protected class
  • Refusing to provide information regarding loans due to protected class
  • Imposing different terms or conditions on a loan or credit card, such as different interest rates, points, or fees due to protected class
  • Discriminating in appraising properties due to protected class
  • Denying conventional mortgages in certain communities (redlining) due to protected class

 Reasonable Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities in Housing:

  • The Law protects the rights of people with disabilities by requiring landlords, coops, and condominiums to make a reasonable accommodation for disabled tenants, shareholders, or owners.
  • A reasonable accommodation can be structural such as a ramp at the building entrance to provide wheelchair access or installing grab bars in a bathroom.
  • A reasonable accommodation can also involve a policy change such as permitting a tenant who is blind or has a psychological disability to have a guide dog or companion animal, despite a building’s ‘no pets’ policy.
  • The Law also requires the landlord to pay for an accommodation if it is deemed reasonable – that is architecturally and financially feasible.

Lawful Source of Income

http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/coverage/housing.shtml

**

Public Accommodations

The NYC Commission on Human Rights protects individuals from discrimination in the area of public accommodations. Anyone who provides goods and services to the general public is considered a public accommodation. It is against the Law for a public accommodation to withhold or refuse to provide those goods or services based on the protected classes under the Law.

Examples of Public Accommodations:

  • Stores
  • Banks
  • Medical or dental offices
  • Government agencies
  • Hair salons
  • Hospitals
  • Hotels
  • Theaters
  • Restaurants
  • Schools
  • Taxis

Access to Public Accommodations for Persons With Disabilities

  • Many people with disabilities may need a reasonable accommodation to safely and independently enter or use a public accommodation.
  • The City Human Rights Law requires that providers make reasonable efforts to grant access and services to all customers.
  • Reasonable accommodation may require a structural change, such as constructing a ramp or providing accessible parking spaces, or it may require a change in policy, such as permitting service animals to accompany a disabled person into a restaurant.

Taxi Riders

  • If a taxi driver refuses to pick you up or discriminates against you based on any of the protected classes under the Human Rights Law, you may file a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and the Taxi and Limousine Commission by calling 311 or (212) NEW-YORK.
  • Note the cab’s medallion number, the driver’s name, license number, the date, location, and time. Also, ask for a receipt since it could support your complaint.

Shoppers

  • It is against the Law to be denied access to a store or refused services based on your membership in a protected class under the Law.
  • A store may reserve the right to inspect your bags, check your bags at the door, or closely observe your conduct in the store in an effort to prevent shoplifting; however, such actions may not be based on a protected class, i.e., race.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/coverage/public-accommodations.shtml

**


Title 8 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York
Chapter 5 – Civil Action by Persons Aggrieved by Unlawful Discriminatory Practices

§ 8-502 Civil action by persons aggrieved by unlawful discriminatory practices. a. (a) Except as otherwise provided by law, any person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice as defined in chapter one of this title or an act of discriminatory harassment or violence as set forth in chapter six of this title shall have a cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction for damages, including punitive damages, and for injunctive relief and such other remedies as may be appropriate, unless such person has filed a complaint with the City Commission on Human Rights or with the State Division of Human Rights with respect to such alleged unlawful discriminatory practice. For purposes of this subdivision, the filing of a complaint with a federal agency pursuant to applicable federal law prohibiting discrimination which is subsequently referred to the City Commission on Human Rights or to the State Division of Human Rights pursuant to such law shall not be deemed to constitute the filing of a complaint under this subdivision.

(b) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of subdivision (a) of this section where a complaint filed with the City Commission on Human Rights or the State Division of Human Rights is dismissed by the City Commission on Human Rights pursuant to subdivisions a, b, or c of section 8-113 of chapter one of this title, or by the State Division of Human Rights pursuant to subdivision nine of section two hundred ninety-seven of the executive law either for administrative convenience or on the grounds that such person’s election of an administrative remedy is annulled, an aggrieved person shall maintain all rights to commence a civil action pursuant to this chapter as if no such complaint had been filed.

(c) The City Commission on Human Rights and the corporation counsel shall each designate a representative authorized to receive copies of complaints in actions commenced in whole or in part pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section. Within 10 days after having commenced a civil action pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section, the plaintiff shall serve a copy of the complaint upon such authorized representatives.

(d) A civil action commenced under this section must be commenced within three years after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice or act of discriminatory harassment or violence as set forth in chapter six of this title occurred. Upon filing of a complaint with the City Commission on Human Rights or the State Division of Human Rights and during the pendency of such complaint and any court proceeding for review of the dismissal of such complaint, such three year limitations period shall be tolled.
(e) Not withstanding any inconsistent provision of this section, where a complaint filed with the City Commission on Human Rights or State Division of Human Rights is dismissed for administrative convenience and such dismissal is due to the complainant’s malfeasance, misfeasance or recalcitrance, the three-year limitation period on commencing a civil action pursuant to this section shall not be tolled. Unwillingness to accept a reasonable proposed conciliation agreement shall not be considered malfeasance, misfeasance or recalcitrance.

(e) The provisions of this section which provide a cause of action to persons claiming to be aggrieved by an act of discriminatory harassment or violence as set forth in chapter six of this title shall not apply to acts committed by members of the police department in the course of performing their official duties as police officers whether the police officer is on or off duty. (This provision was erroneously designated by Local Law 11 of 1993)

(f) In any civil action commenced pursuant to this section, the court, in its discretion, may award the prevailing party costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. For the purposes of this subdivision, the term “prevailing” includes a plaintiff whose commencement of litigation has acted as a catalyst to effect policy change on the part of the defendant, regardless of whether that change has been implemented voluntarily, as a result of a settlement or as a result of a judgment in such plaintiff’s favor.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/law/nyc-human-rights-ch5.shtml#1

**

WHO WE ARE

NDRN is the nonprofit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP). Collectively, the P&A/CAP network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States.

CREATION OF NDRN

The Protection and Advocacy (P&A) network was created by Congress after the Willowbrook scandal unearthed the horrible conditions in that institution. Read more about the Network’s history here. The newly created P&A agencies began to realize that in order to be able to advocate for their clients, they needed a national voice in Washington, DC for their own protection, survival and growth. This was especially true, as soon after the creation of the system, the Reagan Administration came into power and began to disassemble federal programs.

NDRN, then called the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS), was established in 1980. NAPAS functioned as a traditional trade association, representing the interests of the P&A/CAP network on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

SERVING OUR MEMBERS

NDRN has three main priorities:

NDRN’s top priority is to obtain increased appropriations for the programs that fund the P&A/CAP network.  NDRN also monitors the administration of these programs by the various federal agencies in the areas of timely grant awards, policies, oversight activities, data collection, etc.

NDRN works to keep federal laws for people with disabilities robust, as P&As must enforce those statutes at the state level.

NDRN provides training and technical assistance to its members on a broad range of topics including legal, fiscal, governance, leadership, communications and organizational development of the P&A/CAP system. Find out more about the Training and Advocacy Support Center at NDRN.

All of NDRN’s goals and activities are based on its understanding of the needs and capacities of the P&A/CAP network

http://www.ndrn.org/en/about/about-ndrn.html

**

Google Search for –

State of New York Disability Advocate

https://www.google.com/search?q=state+of+New+York+disability+advocate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

**

Found some more laws about disability and elderly rights for New York State and New York City – (some passed in 2012 probably but in force now.)

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New York

A.B. 546
S.B. 1040
Requires the office of children and family services to track and report elder abuse and to issue a biennial report to the governor and legislature and office for the aging regarding the incidence of elder abuse in the state.

A.B. 1010
Enacts the Senior Anti-Violence and Enforcement Act (SAVE); establishes a central registry for access to reports of maltreatment of seniors; creates a council on elder abuse; establishes penal provisions regarding offenses against the elderly and disabled.

A.B. 2374
S.B. 4725
Includes the financial exploitation of the elderly or disabled within the definition of the crime of larceny; defines terms.

A.B. 3838
Enacting clause stricken 7/11/11
S.B. 737
Provides a cogent and logical framework for the myriad identity theft laws that have been passed in response to the rapidly changing nature of identity theft crimes; includes provisions regarding when identity theft is committed against a vulnerable elderly person.

A.B. 4045
S.B. 956
Provides for a financial exploitation prevention outreach, education and training program and fund; authorizes the director of the office of the aging to award grants to qualified agencies to establish local elderly exploitation, outreach, education and training programs; outlines elements of such program.

A.B. 4541
S.B. 6756
Relates to reporting of financial exploitation; and establishes a financial exploitation, outreach, education and training program and fund.

A.B. 8646
Relates to offenses involving thefts of identity.

A.B. 8984
S.B. 5515
Enacts the elderly abuse protective act relating to elderly abuse protective services; appropriates $600,000 therefor.

A.B. 10456
S.B. 6712
Establishes the crimes of exploitation of an elderly person, vulnerable elderly person or incompetent or physically disabled person in the first, second, and third degree.

S.B. 5389
Relates to the financial exploitation of the elderly.

S.B. 6051
Relates to the elderly abuse education and outreach program; amends certain definitions and adds a financial outreach and education aspect to such program.

http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/banking/financial-crimes-against-the-elderly-2012-legis.aspx#NY

**

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Adaptive Living Tools

07 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

adaptive living tools, brain injury, cricketdiane, disabilities, head injury, independent living, mental disabilities, mental health, ptsd, stroke, tools for people with disabilities, visual identifiers, visual languages

These are adaptive living tools of the kind I use in visual communications and for visual identifiers –

Visual Language Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Language Tools by CricketDiane 2013

**

After writing the two posts found here about my personal disabilities, current experiences with government programs while making a long-distance move to New York, going through a hurricane in a place not very prepared for it and having the impacts of my disabilities annoying and obvious to me again – I thought maybe it would be a good time to extend to others a little of what I know is helpful for it. I use visual languages and visual tools to serve as communication devices, memory aids and mnemonics, as strategies for me to learn and to do things, as well as having used them to make up the difference for my disabilities.

So, the day that I posted the letter about what had been happening when I moved here especially as it was affected by my disabilities and the post specifically describing some about them, it was because I was so very angry about what had happened and the way others were affecting my opportunities to move forward. I didn’t really have any better place to discuss those things, there was not anyone around to talk with about it and the times I started to post about it and didn’t (before that) had already been numerous.

To put into writing some of these things, I started putting it into a book that will be published over on Amazon and created a store on zazzle to offer versions of the visual tools where people can have them. So far, the book is going to be a paperback styled layout with no pictures, but eventually (and maybe for a second version) I want to put photos of the actual tools that I use along with how they are used in visual descriptions to go with the written materials. Since beginning the book, it has been nearly half completed by writing about twenty pages a day in it but there has not been any editorial efforts being made on it yet. Those twenty pages per day, may only be a few after sentence long paragraphs are changed to reflect something readable.

Visual Language Tools for Adaptive Living by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Language Tools for Adaptive Living by CricketDiane 2013

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Adaptive Living Tools - Visual Languages Identifiers and Communication Devices by CricketDiane 2013

Adaptive Living Tools – Visual Languages Identifiers and Communication Devices by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Identifiers Adaptive Living Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Identifiers Adaptive Living Tools by CricketDiane 2013

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When I was using these visual identifiers and other visual language tools, I didn’t have anything to use as fancy and already constructed as these cards, stickers, magnets and small invitations that could be stood up on a counter or somewhere to remind me of something or to say something. I made them of other things, colored them with markers and used folds in the actual post-it note of color or other stiffer cardboard. Then, the varieties of form, shape and color could be used to visually identify certain things – whether it was to mean, now or not now, go this way as green is partially intended to mean or any number of other things about going or doing which green and its shades of color meant (to me.)

**

Today Card Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers and Communication Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Today Card Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers and Communication Tools by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Identifiers and Communication Tools for Adaptive Living and Visual Languages by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Identifiers and Communication Tools for Adaptive Living and Visual Languages by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Communication Devices, Memory Aids and Visual Identifiers by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Communication Devices, Memory Aids and Visual Identifiers by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Communication Tools and Visual Identifiers for Adaptive Living Strategies and Visual Languages by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Communication Tools and Visual Identifiers for Adaptive Living Strategies and Visual Languages by CricketDiane 2013

**

It is not necessary for any of these tools to have words on them and when I used them, they did not. It was the shapes and juxtaposition to one another of colors and their shapes that identified things to say, or to remember, or to use for notes to myself about something like a sequence of things I had learned. Most things in everyday tasks require a series of steps that have to be learned – even in getting dressed. To remember these sequences and the learning involved in them, I could either place the cards and other things I was using as mnemonic devices and visual language tools within close proximity of one another to remember and to remind me of the sequence and the manner in which I learned it to make the information more accessible to me later or as mnemonic devices to be reminded of the whole process and sequence or simply the need to do that activity encompassing all of it. That means, three days later – I might not know anything about how to do it unless a mnemonic tool could remember it to me>remind me of it and how I learned it ( whatever it may have been.) That is how the visual identifiers and those parts of the strategies helped me to help myself despite my disabilities. They also provided me with ways to communicate with others – particularly at home.

– cricketdiane

**

(I added words on some of them like this reference for the days of the week colors on a coffee mug and on some of the “Now” and “Not Now” tools for them to be more useful in practice for those in the family or proximity of their use who are not accustomed to visual languages nor find them a critical part of everyday living, though for me those words are not necessary nor of much help to me.)

Color Code It Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers Chart Days of the Week - CricketDiane Designs

Color Code It Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers Chart Days of the Week – CricketDiane Designs

Visual Identifiers Adaptive Living And Visual Language Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Identifiers Adaptive Living And Visual Language Tools by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Identifiers and Adaptive Living Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Identifiers and Adaptive Living Tools by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Identifiers Cards and Tools for Adaptive Living and Visual Languages by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Identifiers Cards and Tools for Adaptive Living and Visual Languages by CricketDiane 2013

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Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers, Memory Aids and Visual Communication Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers, Memory Aids and Visual Communication Tools by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Tools for Adaptive Living by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Tools for Adaptive Living by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Adaptive Living Tools, Visual Identifiers and Communication Devices, Memory Aids, Mnemonics and Organizing Tools by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Adaptive Living Tools, Visual Identifiers and Communication Devices, Memory Aids, Mnemonics and Organizing Tools by CricketDiane 2013

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High Contrast Visual Language Tools for Adaptive Living by CricketDiane 2013

High Contrast Visual Language Tools for Adaptive Living by CricketDiane 2013

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Visual Tools for Adaptive Living, Communication and Mnemonics by CricketDiane 2013

Visual Tools for Adaptive Living, Communication and Mnemonics by CricketDiane 2013

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The actual store address of the new store at zazzle that I am making with the adaptive living tools and visual identifiers, mnemonics, memory aids and other organizing tools with a visual, and color-based language focus – is here –

http://www.zazzle.com/adaptivelivingtools*

**

I am in the process of designing them from those I used in my own world to help supersede my own disabilities which left me with predominantly visual language resources internally to use rather than language systems that were verbal and left-brained functioning – certain disabilities do have more likely a range of vulnerabilities to be less capable or thoroughly incapable in verbally based language resources. These tools can be of some help by adapting them to suit the specific needs and requirements of the living aspects of these disabilities.

The book that I am writing about my own experiences with these disabilities that I have and the development of the tools and visual language based strategies that I’ve used – is underway. It will be offered through Amazon and for the Kindle. The first version will be paperback style with words only and hopefully, the second version using the text will have diagrams, show the tools in images and contain more reference materials to seek out about the various subject matter. This is to say that I am writing the anecdotal materials now and the rest will be added in second versions.

It has been very hard to write about these things in this way. At points many years ago, I wrote a Field Guide to Independent Living but it was never published and wrote several pieces about how it all happened that left me with brain injury and post-traumatic disorder in the first place – this is not that. However, in writing those and other things, I didn’t need to describe my use of the tools and doing that for these writings and offering the tools to the public, has been harder because of it. But I am doing it.

– cricketdiane

**

There is also a range of magnets, posters and cards that I’m doing on the Adaptive Living Tools store about foods, vegetables, fruits and other things involved with remembering to eat, fixing food, shopping for foods and remembering how to do those things as they’ve been learned. They can be used by people with disabilities for independent living (even if that independence is not fully independent in a separate living environment yet,) and by those with other purposes for them – around children, in the lives of elderly people who need to remember to eat, in school settings and even in office snack rooms as a reminder to eat healthy.

These food based visual identifier tools are among the handiest of things that helped me to remember to eat and to know how to find those things in my own home when I could identify that I was hungry – which believe it or not, I would forget. There may be a refrigerator there, but I would not know to look there for foods within it and would forget that it has a door on its surface which, once opened would show me the contents of that solid surface presented to me visually every time I passed it.

With a magnet on it of those foods, I may have been able to remember it better – but having not had that available to me, I used a number of other ways. These including cut out pictures of foods taped to the fridge and cabinets, children’s plastic decal stickers sold at Christmastime with candies and candy canes that could be wet on the back to cling to a window and will do the same thing on a refrigerator, and a variety of other things, including a small magnet made to look like a miniature refrigerator that my children and I took the door off one side to show its shelves and drawers inside then kept on the outside of the real refrigerator. (It was sold at the large discount chain store nearby and then later, at dollar stores about the time I had to buy another one. Now, I would buy two of them in the first place and would encourage anyone using these kinds of things to do that as well, especially when it is something like the miniature refrigerator magnet which could end up being completely broken underfoot or lost even though it is still needed – and likely hard to find in any store again.)

There are currently only a few of the foods magnets, cards, stickers and posters made on my store, but there will be a full range of them as I get on with it. These use my photographs of foods and I will be taking more photos to be specific to this effort. I think there is only one more in my stock of photos I’ve already taken and it is of an artichoke sitting on the table because I thought it was so pretty. That was not exactly taken for the same purpose, but as with these vegetables from a street vendor in New York City – are the photographs I’m using until I can get the others made specifically for these sets. I’m working on it.

Foods Magnets to Remember to Eat - Visual Identifiers for Independent Living and to use as Adaptive Living Tools for People with Disabilities by CricketDiane 2013

Foods Magnets to Remember to Eat – Visual Identifiers for Independent Living and to use as Adaptive Living Tools for People with Disabilities by CricketDiane 2013

**

This is the address for the section of the Adaptive Living Tools store that offers these and other visual identifiers concerning foods and remembering to eat, shopping tools, food preparation tools will also be found here, and that offers the posters and tools that can be used to encourage healthy eating as well –

http://www.zazzle.com/adaptivelivingtools/gifts?cg=196943855604854866

**

These are the addresses of the two (and then a third) post where I discussed above, having started posting more about these personal challenges with my disabilities that yielded the adaptive living tools and visual language systems of visual identifiers and mnemonic devices – (what happened when I was moving to New York is included in them) –

https://cricketdiane.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/personal-notes-about-my-life-and-my-disabilities-and-moving-to-new-york-city/

and

https://cricketdiane.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/personal-notes-on-my-disabilities-and-moving-to-staten-island/

**

And a bit more about it is found here –

https://cricketdiane.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/more-about-my-visual-and-adaptive-living-tools-to-go-beyond-my-disabilities/

**

And here is where the book will be found – oh wait – its not at that point yet, but it is registered on Amazon already with its ISBN numbers already issued – I’ll add the address here for it as soon as the writing has been edited and entered at their site resources for it to be offered for sale to the public there and on Kindle.

– cricketdiane

**

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Sometimes I just have to write what is on my mind – still thinking about disabilities and being stuck on stupid

31 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

adaptive living tools, anger management, cricketdiane, disabilities, independent living, new designs

Since posting the two posts about what has happened when I’ve tried to move to New York – where I’m sitting now in my daughter’s apartment rather than to have my own place here in what had been her apartment using my section 8 voucher brought from Georgia – (those posts are here but they would take forever to read so I wouldn’t blame anyone for not reading them – )

https://cricketdiane.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/personal-notes-about-my-life-and-my-disabilities-and-moving-to-new-york-city/

https://cricketdiane.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/personal-notes-on-my-disabilities-and-moving-to-staten-island/

**

Anyway, to continue – since posting those and sitting here not knowing exactly what to do beyond that – while still trying to do something with creating my business stuff online and watching my grandchildren so my daughters can work – I’m just pissed off. There are no other words for it. And some of it is that I’m pissed off about stupid little things concerning having these particular disabilities that I’m working to go beyond constantly and some it is being pissed off at people who have no investment in my life getting to screw it up with a flick of a pen and simply unreasonable decisions that I have no way to know how to fix properly or immediately while it could do some good.

And, I hate that. It makes it harder to tolerate people who are stuck on stupid where it concerns my disabilities which commonly comes out around these kinds of situations – like family members who tell me I don’t follow through and have always had a problem with that – as do others with head injury and post traumatic stress disorder, among other disabilities that go with them. I just want to scream at them – if you know that I have trouble with following through then help me with that instead of discussing that fact with all my other family members as if it is some moral disorder that I can in some way make a choice to fix. If it is beyond my measure and it is obviously so – then why not help fill in the elements of that which I can’t do so that I can follow through on things. How hard would that be? And, it doesn’t help to have been telling me that for every occasion since 1984 when the head injury occurred without ever having helped to fix any of that. Damn their bullshit sometimes.

Most of the time, I have to work with others whether I want to or not – and that is true of most people with head injury and other disabilities. But, truly – others do not have to work with us nor accommodate our silly, stupid and, what they believe, are crazy needs. I’m always going to have some crazy requests to suit my specific needs. I can’t help that. Most people don’t watch the same movies fifty times. I do. It helps me and every time, it is as if I’ve nearly never seen it before anyway, so I can thoroughly enjoy it again as if it is the first time I’ve seen it. At the same time, however, I have learned more of speaking and using words as I’ve seen those movies over and over again because I do start to remember them and the dialogue and scenes in them to some extent because of having seen them so many times. But truly – others around me think it is crazy to see the same movies fifty times or more and still want to see them again. They don’t want to do that. Most people see a movie once and maybe twice because it is on tv one day when nothing else seems fun to watch – and then they might tolerate seeing it again. So, whatever – sometimes I get to see those movies again and sometimes I have to put up with people including my family members around me that won’t tolerate me seeing it once more – whatever movie it is. And, sometimes I have family members refuse to allow the closed captioning to be on because they don’t like it – as well as some friends being that way over the years – including at times, the insistence by some people that those words playing at the bottom of the screen cause schizophrenia and other psychological disorders. In fact, having heard some of the insanity around me like that over the years, I’m here to tell you that “normal” people are not real impressive nor something I would ever aspire to be now that I have learned more about what they are like.

And, that is just the thing that seems to be pissing me off most today – that I could make all these efforts and that thousands of others who don’t have to make these efforts are welcomed into their new communities where they move, are helped by every single thing out there that could help them start a business or do the tasks involved in it, and their family members are something they can deal with if they want to and not deal with if they don’t – but mostly, their family members are helpful, tolerant and understanding of them. Why can’t I do that? Why is that so hard for me and for others with disabilities? Why does it have to be made harder for us when there is so incredibly much money being given to help us that we never see and never get to access – and so many people being paid to help us to do things that never actually have to do anything to help while still getting paid and still getting to buy houses for themselves and cars and nice schools for their children and pay for their own groceries and going out to eat and go on vacations? Oh damn the English – and everything else they get to do, while being paid from funds given to help people including me with these particular disabilities. I’m tired of it.

But, I’m trying to work on my being pissed off to change it to something that would help me and possibly help others – so I’m working to create something with it, which is one of the tools / strategies I can use for anger and frustration and feeling rather lost. It is easy to get lost in the systems that the states have set up with money to help people like me and very, very easy to get angry with it all. There are infinite demands for paperwork and showing up to appointments – and then after doing all that, it really doesn’t even mean anything because even the smallest thing can take all those efforts and throw them in the trash just as it did to me with the section 8 voucher not being used fast enough on a place to rent in New York. Then, too – any bureaucratic decision can be made without cost to them personally while completely devastating my life. It makes me just want to give up and not even make the efforts to do anything past that moment. And, I really have to fight that thinking within myself too.

The fact is, that those people in New York who refused to even consider taking the voucher, weren’t rejecting me as a poor person with disabilities that they didn’t want in their property although I could look at it that way and in a few cases, it may have been true. But, they don’t know me and don’t know that I could be an asset to their community and to their neighborhood. They didn’t have any way to know that. And, the woman working at section 8 in the Marietta Housing Authority office in Georgia doesn’t know me – even though she certainly knows the disabilities I have because they are written all over my case file on paper and in her computer – all verified by countless tests and doctors and other appointments I had to get to without help. And, the fact is, she wasn’t saying anything about me personally when she chose to deny a further extension to my voucher or to help me get the apartment here in Staten Island that I need right next to my daughter’s apartment or to have this apartment, which is really the one I know and could successfully live in with my adaptive tools.

She gets paid either way – and couldn’t have cared less if I could make this work or not. But, it is easy for my mind to think it was a wholesale rejection of my value as a person with or without disabilities and that denial means there are no funds for me to have a place to live despite my efforts to have my own business – there just isn’t any other income to provide for my renting or buying something where I can live without these crumbs from the section 8 and SSI small check. I know it is wrong that it is that way considering the skills I have worked to acquire since the head injury – but it is what it is. And, still – it pisses me off and serves as constant reminder that I’m not a welcomed part of society or of any community – just a bane to the existence of others in their estimation of it. I hate that.

It would be really hard to believe in myself, to have confidence in myself and my abilities, or to have healthy self-esteem in situations like this. And, yet that is probably what is required for doing business successfully or for getting a job anywhere or making money in any way, shape or form – which would likely fix most of these things in my life. But, having said that – I have to remember that money simply doesn’t fix all of it. Maybe my business would do better and provide that money if I had other skills to add to those I have, or could acquire the self-esteem and confidence that business leaders always talk about – or could follow through more appropriately or knew how to do that. I would need to create some new tools to do that – and learn what would work for me to accomplish it in very changing and complex sets of experiences. Calendars are only partly useful to me and day runners, more of a nightmare than effective. In some ways, if I don’t see it – I don’t know to do it. And, in some ways – mnemonic tools only seem to work for things that I’ve learned and re-learned and learned again over and over and over – through the course of many years. So, if I started learning this follow through thinking today and how to associate it with any given situation to know how to apply it – how long would that be before the skills would be useful to me on a regular basis? Hmmm. That is something worth doing though – maybe I could learn it.

To get any positive thinking out of this day – I would like to offer a couple of the other ways that I deal with these kinds of difficult situations especially since I’m having to apply those things right now anyway.

*  I can create something that would be helpful to others, that they would enjoy, that would make life better.

*  I can go on walkabout a bit, photograph some things that are pretty or interesting, meet people, talk with people around me.

*  I can go paint something to express the feelings until they are gone and have washed through me to become something else and then make some comedy writing out of it or other things.

*  I can get online and find some lawyers to sue the hell out of those assholes in Marietta that did this to me.

*  I can get on the phone and talk to my family members about what to do next but I’m probably not in a good mental state to put up with them being stuck on stupid and saying the wrong things to be of any help.

*  I can make reservations at any mental hospital in Georgia or New York – and just go live there for the next five years or however much of my life is left and not have to fiddle with any of the rest of these things.

*  I can use the power of my anger to accomplish great things – allowing that anger to stand in place of confidence that I don’t have and courage that seems to fail me. That might work.

*  I can remember that Lucille Ball withstood horrors of abuse and superseded it to become a genius of comedy – Einstein reached far beyond not being able to tie his own shoes – and follow the paths they cut for me.

*  I can use my tools to develop new things and new tools that would be of help to me and to the world using the anger and frustration to fuel those efforts and the hell with trying to figure out how to make money ever.

*  I can remember that I have actually successfully moved many states away from anything I know despite head injury and being a survivor of many terrible shitty things – and regardless of what some stroke of the pen by a HUD worker did to my financial opportunities to have a place to live, the fact is absolutely, that I have moved successfully to a place where I am currently sitting that I do know, that I did prepare for, and that I can use successfully even though I don’t have the money to pay for it with my own resources exclusively and living fully independently in it. That is a fact. I do know my name. I can still do a vast number of things that others take for granted but I have to work hard to do – from tying my own shoes or knowing to put them on before going outside – to cooking a meal in a kitchen area that has been explained properly to me so I can use it successfully – to being able to take the buses here or walk down the street to the grocery or drug store or bodega or post office.

So, these are some of the tools that I’m being forced by the situation to use extensively right now – and from this list, I can select to apply these things, think about them, re-focus my attention and thinking with them, sort my activities into applying them and generally help myself through this situation along with its inherent anger, pissed-off-edness, difficulties and frustrations. And, I can use these tools and strategies from this list among other tools I have, to actually create new tools and strategies that will apply specifically to this one and can be used for situations of a similar nature that throw me for a loop in future experiences. In that way, I grow through the situations that I encounter rather than to be completely devastated by them. And, that is a good thing. I try to remember that most of all, because many times it seems impossible and at least half of that, is from my own thinking and emotions overwhelming me beyond measure, rather than whether it is absolutely impossible or not, no matter how hard it might be or how many steps it might require.

There is one other thing that helps me which I need to put on the inside door of one of my daughter’s kitchen cabinets. It is a card or paper that says – “Are you sure you tried “EVERYTHING”? Really?” And, that reminds me of what is truly impossible – I could not have possibly tried everything, nor created every single thing that could be brought to bear on a situation – it just isn’t possible. And, it reminds me of that – to think of things that way. And, then I might just take one more step, however small it might be. – Just one more step.

– cricketdiane

**

Have you tried everything? cards to tape on the inside of the kitchen cabinet to help get through frustration and anger.

Have you tried everything? cards to tape on the inside of the kitchen cabinet to help get through frustration and anger.

**

The new Adaptive Living Tools store I’m building on Zazzle – is found here –

http://www.zazzle.com/adaptivelivingtools*

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My store on Zazzle and its main page is found here –

http://www.zazzle.com/cricketdiane*

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The pages of my zazzle store at cricketdiane where the visual identifiers can be found –

http://www.zazzle.com/cricketdiane/gifts?cg=196863584514247409

**

And, my new website about a week old through web.com that they built for me – and I like it a lot although it still has some work to be added to it yet – a video probably and maybe a couple more pages –

http://www.cricketdiane.org/

**

The other things I created today on the CricketDiane Zazzle store included this design among several others – I particularly like this one with its beautiful colors and design. I put it on about a hundred different products – some with repeating designs, but most like this one with a single design across the surface. The blues are extraordinary.

Blue Magic Purple Blue Turquoise Pretty Design Cover For The iPad Mini CricketDiane Art and Design

Blue Magic Purple Blue Turquoise Pretty Design Cover For The iPad Mini CricketDiane Art and Design

– cricketdiane

**

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More about my visual and adaptive living tools to go beyond my disabilities

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

adaptive living tools, brain injury, color coding, cricketdiane, cricketdiane visual languages, disabilities, head injury, independent living, more about my disabilities, visual identifiers, visual organization tools

After the head injury in 1984, I learned differently and had to relearn a lot of things. I was also more visual rather than verbal in my thinking and functioning abilities. The good part of that is being able to draw anything I see. The more difficult part of that was to relearn verbal thinking skills and it is much easier to do language and communication visually for me since then. A lot of the tools that I developed to help myself in daily living and for many complex tasks of communication and language, as well as remembering to myself things of one kind and another – are visual identifiers and visual tools based on color, shape and form.

Some things are obvious – red meaning stop and things like that. Some are less obvious to others because they developed out of necessity. For the days of the week to make sense to me, I color coded calendars and used post it notes in a specific set of colors with each color meaning something in my own visual language. For the days of the week, at one point they were nicely color coded with each day having a corresponding color as the rainbow would with the same combination following the spectrum. That made a very pretty calendar but turned out to not be very useful.

After a series of trying different combinations, it turned out that for me – having a highly contrasting color on days next to each other on the calendar worked better, though not as pretty as the spectrum rainbow ones. Therefore, Monday became hot pink, Tuesday is denoted by spring green, Wednesday for bright yellow, Thursday in a deep sky blue, Friday in strong basic orange, Saturday in red (more because I meant to tell myself to stop and take a look at the whole week that had past to regroup and go forward from there), and for Sunday, it is a nice violet purple (which also reminds me that it is a spiritual day and a time to take some rest and do some special nourishing things within that day.)

Color Code It Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers Chart Days of the Week - CricketDiane Designs

Color Code It Adaptive Living Tools Visual Identifiers Chart Days of the Week – CricketDiane Designs

(above is a coffee mug that I made on the zazzle store with the days of the week color chart – created last year on the store. There are probably some of my old calendars with the colors on each day of the week that I had been using but I don’t have them in New York with me right now because they are in storage in Georgia still. Otherwise, I would take a photo of them and post it here. I also have a chart describing what each of the colors mean that I created when one of my friends asked me to do that for them some years ago – but it is in my notes somewhere too, although now that I think about it – there may be a photograph of it somewhere in my computer.)

These colors worked better for me and although the colors as post it notes were also used for other things – they rather fit together – like pink for making phone calls which invariably needed to happen on Mondays anyway (from the old memo books of who called that are used in offices – making it refer back to something I had once known and that other people commonly used.) Green denotes going and money-making things, places to go and things like that or where I needed to go and talk with someone in person or do something by going there in person rather than by phone or computer or email. The yellow on post it notes meant something that was known and occasionally caution, but less so since the what is known category generally written on a post it note didn’t need caution about it in a traditional sense but more for me to give special care and attention to the fact that I did know that about something and should take note of it.

Now Magnet Visual Identifier - Visual Languages Adaptive Living Tools CricketDiane Designs

Now Magnet Visual Identifier – Visual Languages Adaptive Living Tools CricketDiane Designs

Regardless, each of the colors ended up meaning things in my everyday living to help me do things and to know things as well as using them on the calendar. Then I was able to use post it notes, colorful and clear push tacks, magnets of color, sorting trays in various colors and even legos within the buildings that I created from them – as well as various toys, and painted things to tell me what I either want to remember to myself, or to tell myself later – sort of a visual note. Some things of course, work better than others for this – and although I’ve relearned to read and write many times over since the injury – it is still more likely that I will “read” the color rather than the note with words on it. A series of folds explains a lot more to me than the written words on a thing and often, my post it notes would have folds across them to tell me nearly as much as the words I may have taken the time to write on the thing. In fact, to keep from accidentally giving people the wrong denomination of money or inadvertently throwing it away not realizing it was money at all, a set of folds in the ten dollar bill or twenty dollar bill helps me even today.

Head injury of any kind, strokes and other physiological differences in brain function changes a number of things that most people take for granted every day. Some things are simple – I will never have the luxury of putting my keys just wherever they land as many people do. For me, they will have to go in the same place every time after intensely working to make that habit to do it this time, every time. That is one of the tools that can help me to not be wandering about lost within my own house or living environment for three months totally lost unable to leave knowing that I can’t find my keys and don’t have them to lock my door when I go out it. I would actually hate to admit how often that happened to me before figuring out that putting my keys in my shoes every single time worked to find them again and later, as I do now – they always go back in my purse after unlocking the door right that very minute.

It is obvious to most neurologists, psychologists, physical and cognitive therapists, and others helping people with brain injury including their caregivers that it seems we don’t deal with frustration well. But, as far as I’m concerned and others have repeated it to me as well who have brain injury – they just don’t know the multitude of frustrations we’ve been successfully managing in thousands of ways every minute until finally something is just one too many and can’t be resolved. Since someone sitting beside me probably doesn’t know how much effort it took for me to tie my shoes even this week, and doesn’t know I had to trick one of my granddaughters into tying their shoes so I could see it done one more time to remember how and to follow it – that person probably wouldn’t understand why I would be frustrated and feeling humiliated in general before ever leaving my house. If they also knew that I had lost the front door for about twenty minutes before leaving because somebody moved the purple push tack I had on the wall right next to the door that would tell me where to find the door (and the wall for that matter) – maybe that person wouldn’t be quite so intolerant that I’m already at my outer range of patience once I’ve finally found the door and gotten outside. But, then that only describes two of the multitude of others that all happened as I was getting ready to go somewhere and all happened at the same time.

One of the things I hate about brain injury’s changes to me is that it is almost impossible to prioritize – all of it is important and all of it requiring me to fix it, do it, manage it or get it done seems to have the same level of priority. That means, I have to really think about whether socks go on first or shoes and then socks unless I make the process into a specifically learned habit (which always requires re-learning and re-establishing that habit in order to keep it available to me – but it is a really good tool.)

Color Visual Identifiers - Pink for Monday and Making Calls - Need to Call Whomever - Adaptive Living Tools Color Only Magnets - CricketDiane Designs

Color Visual Identifiers – Pink for Monday and Making Calls – Need to Call Whomever – Adaptive Living Tools Color Only Magnets – CricketDiane Designs

There is something to be said about one very valuable tool for me – that I truly believe almost anyone can use if they think about it a bit – even caregivers would be able to use it for their family members with brain injury, stroke and other similar disabilities – but that said, I haven’t much faith in family members, caregivers, nurses, visiting nurses or even occupational therapists to help anyone with a brain injury to actually do this one because they seem to have a lot of difficulty with it. That tool is to set things, put things like visual identifiers, mnemonics and other things for adaptive living in a place where, by nature – I already look. It is a really simple tool but takes a lot of working with it over several days or weeks to get it right – sort of making a best guess based on observation, placing a thing there and then if it doesn’t work – figuring out where it does – until it does.

The person with a head injury, probably just like anyone else will almost always come into a room’s space seeing certain places and things first and more dominantly, no matter what else is happening in that room. Distraction is a real disaster for me and for many people with brain injury. So, the best place to put something I’m supposed to remember is to put it where I will automagically look by the fact I already do always look there at that spot. In a very real sense, unless I’m stuck on looking down at my shoes – it probably won’t tell me there is a door in a wall if I put the push tack near the floor, though for some things, the floor is the best place to indicate some things – like a change of room by having a small throw carpet with non-skid backing in the doorway to tell my feet and therefore to alert me to that fact that I’m transversing into a different room.

– cricketdiane

**

http://www.zazzle.com/cricketdiane/gifts?cg=196863584514247409

and color only sets of products, many of which can be used as visual identifiers are here –

http://www.zazzle.com/cricketdiane*/gifts?cg=196960838491456085

I started making another store that will have only the adaptive living tools on it through Zazzle – but most of the ones I’ve made so far are actually on the page above where I had made them on the cricketdiane zazzle store. It obviously isn’t necessary to use these – although the magnets and stickers are very handy. In my world, I use many things with color including post it notes, small color only stickers, calendars hand colored for the days of the week (which isn’t something I need to do as much anymore, but still helps me to remember the relationships of time and sequence between days of the week that is one of the hardest concepts for me to keep hold of), and by having various color markers and paints to use – I can color things to use as specific visual identifiers when I need them.

But here is the other store address that I’m building with just the adaptive living tools on it –  As I said, there are only a few things on it so far. Last night I was putting what I thought was a number of visual identifiers on it and accidentally posted them to the other store at cricketdiane – oh well, I’ll get it fixed.

http://www.zazzle.com/adaptivelivingtools*

**

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