New York state to close 4 institutions for the disabled
By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
The Associated Press
ALBANY —
New York officials plan to close four state institutions that provide care for the disabled during the next four years in the ongoing shift to group homes and community settings.
The Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, responsible for about 126,000 New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, said Friday the O.D. Heck Developmental Center in suburban Schenectady is slated to shut by March 31, 2015.
That will be followed by the Brooklyn Developmental Center by Dec. 31, 2015; Broome Developmental Center in Binghamton by March 31, 2016; and the Fineson Developmental Center in Queens a year later.
"No one should live in an institution," said Cathy Loquercio, board president of the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State. "As people with developmental and other disabilities, we believe that we should live in our community, in our own home or a small home or apartment with the people we chose to live with, among our friends and neighbors, and with the supports we need to be contributing citizens."
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