Report: NYC courthouses inaccessible for disabled people

Source: Associated Press

Report: NYC courthouses inaccessible for disabled people
By JAKE PEARSON, Associated Press | March 23, 2015 | Updated: March 23, 2015 11:26pm

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's courthouses and holding pens are rife with problems — from a lack of elevators for people who use wheelchairs to poorly marked, separate entrances — that make them inaccessible or unduly difficult to navigate for people with physical disabilities, according to a new report.

Some detainees in Manhattan who are in wheelchairs have been carried down flights of stairs by jail guards after arrest to be booked and processed, while in Staten Island improvised criminal court proceedings for defendants in wheelchairs are moved to the first floor because there's no elevator to the second floor courtroom, the investigation by the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest found.

"One thing we found was that the only way for a person who has a mobility impairment to access a courthouse is through a makeshift arrangement that negatively draws attention to his or her disability," said Navin Pant, a staff attorney and a co-author of the 20-page report which was provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release on Tuesday. "The injustices are found in all different ways and they really add up to a denial of equal access," he said.

The report, based on a review of 10 of the roughly 30 courthouses and holding pens in all five boroughs by attorneys and advocates for the disabled, is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive look at courthouse accessibility, said City Councilman Rory Lancman. The Queens Democrat will hold an oversight hearing on the matter and is introducing legislation that would require an annual accessibility audit by the city agency charged with maintaining courthouses.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Report-NYC-courthouses-inaccessible-for-disabled-6154266.php