A PETITION TO NEW YORK STATE REGARDING ITS PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY SYSTEM

New York State has made the decision to move the P&A from the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, a state agency, to a not-for-profit corporation.  Advocates in New York State and elsewhere understood that regardless of which organization was selected to serve as the New York State’s P&A, non-legal advocacy would continue to play an important role in the State’s P&A system.  Since the early 1970s, there have been few organizations that have been more influential in promoting progressive policies and practices for people with disabilities and their families than the Center on Human Policy.  The Center has an unrivaled track record in producing research and resources that have provided the foundation for disability rights and progressive pro-community, values-based supports nationally. 

New York State has announced their intention to designate Disability Advocates, Inc. as the new P&A.  Clearly, a P&A must have a strong legal component, and Disability Advocates, Inc., a legal advocacy group, offers this ability. Their work has focused on housing and on issues affecting people with psychiatric disabilities.  Their record of advocating for the full inclusion and community participation of people with all disabilities, and especially those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is less clear.  

Further, as advocates know, not all change is accomplished through legal action.  Legal strategies alone have not been and will not be effective in ensuring the rights of people with disabilities in society.  In case after case, state after state, P&As have accomplished broad, critical change through non-legal strategies including investigative reports of abusive settings, self-advocacy by people with disabilities and family members, regulatory and other public policy efforts, and the development of policy statements supporting the rights of people with disabilities to full inclusion, self-direction and control, and life-sustaining treatment.  

All states need a strong Protection and Advocacy system that offers a balance between legal action and broader advocacy approaches.  The best P&As nationally offer both of these critical elements – a strong legal service balanced with a directed focus on non-legal advocacy approaches. The Center on Human Policy at Syracuse University is uniquely qualified to provide this balance in New York State.  We are asking that whichever organization is selected to be the new P&A in New York State, a prominent role for the Center on Human Policy is assured.  The Center has pioneered the support of self-advocacy and family advocacy, conducted and published investigative reports on both abusive and humanizing settings, and issued policy statements that have had national impact toward assuring the full rights of people with disabilities and their families.