thanx.  :)


>From: ken barber <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: "St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List"
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: “But there are places for disabled people!”
>Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:35:15 -0800
>
>i know not if it will help, but, i did send a plea to
>2 influential media outlets in new york city.
>
>--- Jonathan Rand <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > 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
>=== message truncated ===
>
>
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