Theme/Mission: ‘People With Disabilities Welcome Here’
By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — On Tuesday, May 6, a center “unlike anything else in the New York area – a welcoming, beautifully designed space for adults with physical disabilities” — opened with fanfare in Downtown Brooklyn.
Other comments overheard at the opening: “It changed my life.” “Before ICS I just stayed in the house.” “I feel more independent, more productive.”
The 16,000-square-foot Independence Care System (ICS) Brooklyn Center is on the 5th floor at 25 Elm Place, the site of the old Mays department store. It is the first state-of-the-art service center for people with physical disabilities in the borough.
“We live in a world where most places have a sign — an invisible sign, but there’s definitely a sign — that says, ‘People with physical disabilities are not welcome here,’” Rick Surpin, ICS president, told attendees. “Well, we wanted a place not far away, not hidden but in the middle of everything, with a sign that said “People with physical disabilities are welcome here.’”
Brooklyn is the county with the largest population of people with disabilities in the state, according to Surpin. The number in Brooklyn who receive Social Security disability benefits is close to 95,000, as compared to 71,495 in the Bronx and 60,787 in Manhattan.
Joining Surpin at the May 6 celebration — in which all the opening remarks were signed for the hearing impaired — were:
• Commissioner Matt Sapolin of the Mayor’s Office For People With Disabilities, who presented a proclamation and said his department’s goals were “to make our city inclusive across the board; to include people with disabilities in all planning for the city; and to make sure the commission and the partnering goes beyond my tenure and the mayor’s.”
• Marilyn Saviola, director of advocacy for ICS, who said the day was an exciting one for her on many levels, but mostly because members, staff, city and community people were “all gathered together in this room celebrating the concept of independent living.”
Other speakers included Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Yvonne Graham; artist Juan Carlos Alcaraz, ICS member and founder of Artists on Wheels; Taria Rogers, ICS Brooklyn member and coordinator of the Networking Project for Young People with Disabilities at the YWCA-NYC; and, keeping the momentum going, Loreen Loonie, director of community relations for ICS.
Brooklyn architect Tim Bade of Bade Stageberg Cox (BCS) Architects, designed the 15,900-square-foot center — along with Martin Cox and Gary Deam — which features walls that are curved and tilted at the base and a sliding glass front door that opens automatically.
The open-plan also allows easy wheelchair passage with its cork floors, minimal doors — some much wider (42 inches) than the 36 inches required by the Americans with Disabilities Act — and vibrant colors to identify service areas.
Other offerings at the center include:
• A wheelchair repair and maintenance shop, plus instruction in wheelchair maintenance.
• A power ceiling lift to safely transfer members in and out of wheelchairs.
• Activities like Artists on Wheels, a writers group, Friday night at the movies and instruction in painting, sculpture and jewelry-making.
• A fully equipped and accessible pantry for staff and members.
The center brings 50 new jobs to Brooklyn, including intake staff, nurses, rehabilitation team, tech support for wheelchairs, artists and teachers, according to Surpin.
Others involved in the creation of the new center were the project manager, Alyce Russo of Schall & Russo Planning Works in Manhattan; and broker Suzanne Schwimmer of Schwimmer Realty in Brooklyn, who handled the lease.
For more information, please visit: www.icsny.org.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
