John,

My name is Nick Astor, and I serve as the Constituency Liaison for People with Disabilities here in the Comptroller’s Office. You can learn more about my work in the office here.

This year, the Comptroller's Office was proud to officially sponsor the 2024 Disability Pride Parade. We marched, rolled, scooted, and walked down Broadway to Union Square for a festival celebrating New York's disability community.

Nick Astor introduces Comptroller Brad Lander at the Disability Pride Parade.

Office of the Comptroller van decorated with streamers rolling down Broadway.

Did you know that October is Disability Employment Awareness Month?

Our office published a powerful new report on disability employment here in New York City. People with disabilities have long faced structural barriers to employment, including employer discrimination, inadequate accommodations, and inequitable access to social assistance and vocational rehabilitation, among other factors.

Unfortunately, our analysis found that we are falling behind when it comes to supporting disabled New Yorkers in the workforce.

Although employment levels improved slightly at the start of the pandemic because of opportunities to work from home, as well as the tight labor market, New Yorkers with disabilities are still employed at about half the rate of non-disabled New Yorkers.

Meanwhile, people with disabilities are overrepresented in service jobs, but underrepresented in management, business, and financial rolls.

How do we change this? The City government must lead the way in helping people with disabilities find employment that meets their skill set. New York has a chance to strengthen the diversity that we pride ourselves on by investing in people with disabilities, living up to our commitment to diversity and equality.

We must properly fund the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD), which only has a budget of $540,000 for 2025. This is not only less per capita than other city agencies in major cities, it is also not enough funding to support the more than 900,000 New Yorkers with disabilities.

New York needs to close the gap, which is partly why we’ve been working so hard internally to promote accessibility and Disability Justice within the Comptroller’s Office. Earlier this year, we released our first-ever five year accessibility plan at the NYC Comptroller’s office. This plan in part is our commitment to deploy the tools of this office to effectuate real change in the lives of everyday New Yorkers with disabilities.

Together we can combat ableism in all its forms across all government agencies, including our office and in the private sector. 

Thanks,

Nick Astor 
Constituency Liaison for People with Disabilities
The Office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander

Office of the New York City Comptroller

Our mailing address is:
Office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander
1 Centre Street
New York, NY 10007
United States

This email was sent to [email protected]. If you wish to no longer receive these messages, please unsubscribe.