You face a horrible situation, Jon! Is there a CIL (center for Independent
Living)  in your area? My mind is boggled by the horror of your situation.
But maybe PAI could help you? That is an agency called Protection and
Advocacy and they are in every state, (names may be different) Call your
senator Clinton? Check with your State's Developmental Disabilities board
to see if you might get more help physically. from a Supported Living
agency.  perhaps a dental school at a university would fix the cleft
palette?

Mag

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"What is real but compassion, as we move from birth to death?"
~~Greg Brown~~


> [Original Message]
> From: Jonathan Rand <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 12/10/2005 9:54:16 AM
> Subject: “But there are places for disabled people!”
>
> Many of you will not be able to help me in any way with this, but I think
> you need to know what’s happening nevertheless.  I suspect this happens to
> many of the physically disabled poor.  Their lives get torn apart, and
> nobody knows about it.  Some rich landlord gets a little richer, while a
> poor person, (even someone with severe disabilities), loses their home,
> their possessions, and even their connections with other people!
>
> After being taken in by a friend who was mentally ill, (after losing my
own
> apartment), and after that person became sicker, and had to leave here,
the
> landlord is evicting me.  There are no affordable apartments available in
> Manhattan, and if you’re talking about wheelchair accessible apartments,
> FORGET IT!  (I use a wheelchair.)  (I won’t survive in an outlying
borough,
> in a dangerous neighborhood, isolated from people in Manhattan that help
me!
>   I’ve already been physically attacked by “young males” from the
projects,
> so I steer clear of those kinds of places.  I’m not sure what was thrown
at
> me at one point.  I think it was a bottle.)
>
> The landlord is apparently thinking about the “bottom line!”  He let the
> back rent build up…  Legal Aid told me they “couldn’t do anything until it
> came right down to the wire!”  And the landlord needed to serve me with
> eviction papers before they would act.  A lot of time went by.  I was
> served, (a few times), with papers having to do with THE CAR’S PARKING
> SPACE, downstairs in the parking lot, but no one came to my door with
> anything having to do with the apartment.  An eternity went by, but nobody
> lifted a finger to head something like this off!  I knew I was headed for
a
> very bad situation but there was little I could do!  I’m severely
disabled.
> A nonverbal spastic, athetoid quad, (like CEREBRAL PALSY), with low
vision.
> I can’t use a phone or read text.  Email is my only line to “the outside
> world,” and until recently, I couldn’t even leave this neighborhood!  The
> electric scooter I got from Medicaid, DIDN’T FIT ON THE BUS!  And when I
> complained about this, (at United Cerebral Palsy, down on East 23rd
Street,
> here in New York, I was told, “that was the only scooter that could be
> approved.  That’s the law!  And if I didn’t like it, I should go to
> Washington and LOBBY!”  (I guess they expected me to crawl there…..!)
>
> Anyway, the landlord refused my friend’s rent check, saying he violated
the
> lease.  When he got sicker, he went to his girlfriend’s, so she could take
> care of him, leaving me here alone.  The landlord said: “he wasn’t living
> here, and he had an illegal sublet.”  My friend didn’t tell the landlord
> that I was here, BECAUSE HE SUFFERED FROM A DISABLING ANXIETY DISORDER.
He
> was AFRAID to!  The lease was never violated maliciously!
>
> Someone in the neighborhood helped me get a Section-8 rent voucher.  So
soon
> after my friend left, I had the ability to pay the rent here!  (This is a
> RENT STABILIZED apartment, and the rent is only $100 more than my
voucher!)
> Current rents everywhere else, are much much higher, so staying here
seemed
> like the best option.  If I’m forced to leave, my life will be literally
> torn apart!  I’ve learnt, over the years, to take care of myself IN THIS
> APARTMENT!  The placement of the sink, in relation to the bathtub, is
> important because of the routines I established so I could wash and brush
my
> teeth in the morning!  if I get on the floor, and lean over the bathtub, I
> can do things like wash my face, or eat on my own!  I rigged a hose, going
> from the bathroom sink faucet, to the bathtub, so I could fill a cup, or
wet
> a cloth.  It used to take me five hours to wash & dress everyday!  Now I
can
> do it in under two hours!  Take me away from this apartment, and I’m
> “helpless” again!  I took YEARS to figure out how to do this stuff here,
and
> I dread having to start all over!  It took me for ever to find the right
> hose, that would fit in the bathroom sink faucet!
>
> And also, like most men, I guess, I’m fighting the aging process!  :)  My
> hair is turning grey!  I darken my mustache!  You might think that this
> routine would be something I could let go of easily!  But I have an extra
> problem!  I was born with a facial deformity.  A cleft palate & lip.  I
went
> through hell because of this, when I was younger, until I figured out how
to
> cover it up, with a big “walrus” moustache!  The moustache, a pair of
“John
> Lennon wire rim glasses, & a Beatle haircut, distracted people away from
the
> deformity, and my life changed INSTANTLY!  Now that I’m older, the
moustache
> is turning grey!  It’s losing its shape, and no longer doing its job,
> (unless I use that “stuff!”)  (“GREYaway, Only for ‘REAL’ MEN!)  :)  I
made
> a kind of “vanity table” that fits in the BATHTUB.  Getting down on the
> floor, and leaning over the tub, enbles me to color my mustache!  Hands
> free!  There’s a light, & an adjustable “jig” that holds a MIRROR and a
> BRUSH.  I have everything worked out!  From mixing the
> hair-dye GOO, to applying it, (by moving my head over the mounted brush),
> to rincing it off!  I use an electric screwdriver to unscrew the caps on
the
> little tubes!  Everything’s worked out.  And the routine is very
intricate!
> Change ANYTHING, and everything falls apart!
>
> I’m horrified at the prospect of not being able to take care of myself!
And
> the thought of uncovering that deformity after all these years totally
> floors me!  I’m actually surprised that even THIS landlord, (notorious for
> being cruel & mean), is doing this to me!
>
> People in the system, (social workers etc.), don’t really know what to do
in
> cases like this.  And they’re constrained by rules & regulations, (and
lack
> of money), so anyone in my position could easily “fall through the cracks
“
> and get crushed!
>
> Legal Aid accepted my case about a year ago, and when eviction papers were
> served, I won that round in court on a technicality.  (My name wasn’t on
the
> papers.)
>
> After that, time passed.  And little or nothing was done to try and head
off
> the coming storm!  Rent bills started arriving.  I asked my social worker
> about these…  Could it be that the management office wasn’t aware of what
> was happening?  There was no response.
>
> When the lease was up, I got a rent bill saying, “your lease has expired.
> Call the office immediately.”  My social worker asked my Legal Aid lawyer
> what we should do about this, and was told that I shouldn’t worry about
it.
> And that we needed to wait for actual eviction papers to arrive.  I’d get
> served, we’d go to court, and everything would take a really long time!
>
> Although I had the Section-8 voucher, back rent was building up.  And
> section-8 won’t pay that!  I asked about this, and was told that if the
> landlord accepted my voucher and allowed me to stay, the CITY would pay
the
> back rent!  But until papers were served, nobody would do anything to head
> things off!
>
> I was worried about being put out in the street!  I was told, there’s a
law
> that protects me, (because I’m severely disabled), and I COULDN’T be put
out
> until a suitable apartment was found for me.  But recently, another social
> worker told me that the city WOULDN’T pay the back rent!  My name wasn’t
on
> the lease, and now, there was no lease at all!  And on top of all of this,
> even if I won in court, and could stay here, the landlord is not obligated
> to accept my voucher!  He can refuse!  No questions asked!  And that’s
just
> what he did.
>
> And now I’m being told, (by a lawyer, gotten for me by a new friend), that
> there IS NO PROTECTION for me!  And if the marshals came to force me out,
> I’d end up in an institution, (like so many other disabled, being held
> against their will), unless I could prove I had someplace to go!!!!
>
> During all this time, while the system sat idle, I tried to make something
> happen on my own.  if nothing else, I needed to be able TO TRAVEL, so I
> could try and make contact with others “like me!”  I was incredibly
lonely.
> Cut off by family, with no normal friendships, I dreamt of just being able
> to go over someone’s house to watch a video!  But someone as severely
> disabled as me, could never really bond and become a part of the lives of
> the people around me at the time.  Able-bodied, blind, or “mildly”
disabled,
> lived a different life!  A wheelchair CHANGES you into a different
creature!
>   STAIRS are a barrier!  These people lived, worked & played in places
where
> I couldn’t go.  And because I can’t talk, real bonding is nearly
impossible.
>
> So when I was told I could get a new power wheelchair, I did my best to
> research things, looking for a chair with a long enough range to get me
out
> of the neighborhood!  Maybe I could make contact with some of the people I
> knew before I became so debilitated!  I knew people that used power
> wheelchairs, like me!  And there was one person in particular, who’s level
> of disability was similar to mine.  When I got my new chair, I would go
down
> to his neighborhood and seek him out.
>
> Well, I finally connected with this person and his family.  (You know what
> they say about “birds of a feather!”)  We came together with such force,
> that the universe shook!
>
> When I told them about my housing situation, they became very alarmed, and
> immediately went to work for me.  They know a lawyer who works for legal
> aid.  And he looked for me in the computer, and found out that the last
> lawyer had CLOSED MY CASE!  And that the landlord had already gone to
court!
>   He told them that eviction papers had been served.  THAT’S A LIE!  The
> marshals were already on their way here to lock me out!  So now, we’re
> scrambling to get to court before the marshals come here!
>
> This new lawyer knows the landlord’s lawyer.  (Works with him all the
time.)
>   They spoke.  The landlord’s lawyer called the landlord, asking for
mercy!
> The landlord hung up on him!!!!!  I think you have to stoop pretty low to
> kick a severely disabled man out of the only affordable, wheelchair
> accessible apartment in Manhattan!
>
> This is a rent stabilized apartment, and if the landlord gets me out, he
> could raise the rent, and get much more money!  if I stay, the rent has to
> remain pretty much the same.  So naturally, they want me out.  It doesn’t
> matter how disabled I am.  It doesn’t matter if I get locked away in an
> institution for the rest of my life, (like so many other disabled people,
> [because of a system, full of holes, and continual budget cuts by the
> “closet Nazis” that run this government])!  All that matters is money.
The
> bottom line!  The landlord wants money!  And he refuses to even discuss
> this.  Even with HIS OWN LAWYER!
>
> Can anybody help with this?
>
> I’m thinking if the landlord could be embarrassed in the media, maybe he
> could be force to back down here.
>
> At one point I made a small effort to rally some tenants around me.  But
> nobody thought they could help.  One person’s comment was, “but there are
> places for disabled people!”  Sure there are!  BIG places, up state!  With
> locked doors!
>
> ------------------------------------
> The person I connected with, (along with his family), snatch me from
> SPAGHETTIFICATION in the black hole of neglect by the system, IN THE NICK
OF
> TIME!  Was it by the grace of God, that we connected NOW, instead of a
week
> later?
>
> Please try and bring this story out in the open!  Call the media!  THERE
ARE
> NO AVAILABLE APARTMENTS FOR PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES!  I AM
> CURRENTLY IN ONE!!!!  But because the landlord wants to make more of a
> PROFIT, I’m being forced out!  I DID NOTHING WRONG!  I’m disabled & ill.
> And I need a safe place to live!
>
>
>
>       Very Sincerely,
>         Jonathan Rand
> ------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Rand
> 792 Columbus Ave.,
> Apt. 5-T
> New York, NY 10025
>
> Landlord:
> PARK WEST VILLAGE