Month: March 2021

March 21, 2021 (New York, NY) – Employment has been a chronic issue for the disabled in New York. Only 35% of disabled people were employed pre-pandemic.

Since COVID hit, it is estimated that half have lost their jobs, and more have had their hours cut.  30% of the city’s disabled live in poverty.

Carol Glazer is the President of the National Organization on Disabilities, a group that advocates for the working disabled. She joined In Focus to talk about the reasons why unemployment has hit this community so hard: they often work in low-paying, low-skilled jobs and are, as she says, the last to be hired and the first to be let go in difficult financial times.

She also spoke to the discrimination that often stands in the way of the disabled and jobs, and why the pandemic must show employers that working remotely, something advocates for the disabled have been asking for in order to bring more of them into the workforce, is actually possible for the long term.

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Originally published by Spectrum NY1.

March 26, 2021 – We don’t yet know the Atlanta shooter’s full motivation, but recent events make it hard not to suspect this was yet another brutal racial attack against Asian-Americans. Either way, this community has been targeted repeatedly in recent months.

There are reports of older Asian-Americans now seeking out pepper spray and other self-defense items because they’re scared to death to leave their own homes. It’s a horrible situation.

These repugnant attacks against Asian-Americans are un-American, just as the Japanese-American internment camps were un-American during World War II.

Most Americans recognize and greatly appreciate the contributions made by all immigrants. After all, so many of us had parents or grandparents who sought a new home here and who have contributed greatly to our nation’s successes.

When you are fortunate to receive your COVID-19 vaccine, consider the immense contributions made by immigrant scientists who are helping to stem the tide of this raging pandemic. Think of the people in your life – family, friends, and co-workers alike who descended from a land other than ours.

And consider this when you watch the Summer Olympics, should they be played in Japan this year. If there is an opening ceremony, watch when the athletes all march in. Tell us which country most resembles the United Nations. It will undoubtedly be the United States. It always is. Our athletes are more culturally diverse than anywhere in the world. We are a proud nation of immigrants.

We do ourselves a disservice when we equivocate – when we do anything less than condemn racially based violence in the strongest terms possible. All of us must be unyielding when it comes to racism. It is the most American thing we can do.

– Gov. Tom Ridge, NOD Chairman; Carol Glazer, NOD President