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The ARISE Coalition and Parents for Inclusive Education are seeking students with physical disabilities in 7th through 11th grades to join a Student Advisory Panel on Accessibility in NYC Public Schools. We are reaching out to students with physical disabilities interested in working with us to identify specific concerns and make recommendations with regard to improving access and school culture for students with a range of physical disabilities. Through this work, students will have the opportunity to further their knowledge about how city government works, meet with key city officials and staff, and potentially speak with press about the panel's concerns and recommendations.

Students interested in joining the panel should complete the application by February 28, 2018. If selected, students will be asked to commit to monthly meetings during the school year through June 2019. ​

Thanks to all of you who were able to join us at last week’s panel discussion and speak-out on school accessibility.   Our excellent student panel (Joshua Stern, Aaron Philip, Emma Albert, and Abraham Weitzman), Dayniah Manderson, who moderated the panel, and April Coughlin, who shared information and data on the need to empower students with mobility needs all provided valuable information and insight.   Download copies of the factsheet [PDF] and powerpoint [PDF] given out that evening to help families and individuals make sure they know their rights in this arena. 

​To read more about the event in the press, see pieces in Chalkbeat and WNYC.  

​Finally, even if you couldn’t make it last week, but you have a story you want to share about school accessibility, you can always reach out to ARISE or our wonderful co-sponsor, Parents for Inclusive Education, at mmoroff@advocatesforchildren.org or at pieNYC@gmail.com.

The ARISE Coalition delivered testimony to the New York City Council on the 2018 Budget calling for increased funding to improve school accessibility.  View our testimony [PDF].

The ARISE Coalition recommends that the Department of Education (DOE) provide schools participating in the Universal Literacy Initiative and the Literacy Coaches that work with them with a toolkit of strategies for engaging all families, including those of students with disabilities, in their literacy efforts. While we are not looking to dictate any single strategy to educational staff in the NYC public schools, we recommend that participating schools undertake some combination of the promising practices [PDF] listed in the linked document.

In February, WNYC's SchoolBook published an opinion piece authored by Jackie Okin-Barney, the Coordinator of Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE), and Maggie Moroff, the Coordinator of ARISE. In a response to the DOE’s official answer to findings from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office that 83% of New York City’s elementary schools are not fully accessible to people with disabilities, we wrote about the need for more accessible programs for students with disabilities at every age in New York City.