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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Andrew Sta. Ana, Interim Co-Executive Director of Asian American Federation (AAF)
1:24:19
ยท
131 sec
Andrew Sta. Ana, representing the Asian American Federation, testified on healthcare access for people with disabilities, focusing on the challenges faced by Asian New Yorkers. He highlighted the increased mental health burden on Asian immigrants due to evolving federal immigration policies and the reluctance to engage with healthcare systems.
- Emphasized the "chilling effect" of anti-immigrant policies leading to an overreliance on Asian-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) for mental health services
- Noted that Asian-serving CBOs are facing significant federal funding cuts, impacting their ability to provide social services
- Called for prioritizing mental health needs of Asian New Yorkers with disabilities and ensuring linguistically and culturally competent care
Andrew Sta. Ana
1:24:19
Okay.
1:24:21
Shall I be in?
1:24:22
Alright.
1:24:23
Thank you Chair Lee, Chair Narcisse, and the council members of these important committees for holding this hearing.
1:24:28
Allow us to testify.
1:24:29
I am Andrew Santa Ana, Interim Co Executive Director of the Asian American Federation where we proudly represent the collective voice of more than 70 member nonprofits serving 1,500,000 Asian New Yorkers.
1:24:40
And I'll also submit more detailed testimony later.
1:24:43
We are here today to discuss the state of healthcare access for those living with disabilities.
1:24:49
Under the new federal administration's evolving immigration policies, the mental health burden on Asian Yorkers has exponentially increased.
1:24:56
And especially for those struggling with mental health conditions and for those living with disabilities.
1:25:01
This challenge is exacerbated by immigrants growing reluctance to engage with horrible systems of care as they are afraid to go to the hospital or the clinic with the fear of safety for them or or their family members of immigration status.
1:25:14
So, on top of community members with disabilities seeking care, there's additional levels of challenges.
1:25:20
As we've heard today, community members are constantly weighing what they have to come out about, what puts them at risk, what opens them up for stigma, all in search for the possibility that when they speak their truth about their disability that they could access services.
1:25:34
So due to the chilling effect of these anti immigrant policies being issued by the federal administration, there's gonna be an overreliance on Asian serving CBOs to provide critical responsive mental health services.
1:25:47
This comes at a time when the majority of Asian serving community based organizations are experiencing significant federal funding cuts that impact their ability to provide social services.
1:25:57
So in short, our recommendations are of course to ensure that the mental health needs of Asian New Yorkers with disability are prioritized when mental health and social services resources are deployed in response to traumatic or violent incidents.
1:26:10
We call in DOHMH and NYPD to make sure that their services are fully accessible linguistically and in appropriate other ways.
1:26:17
We ask for compliance with Local All 30.
1:26:19
And of course when we're doing these things having linguistically and culturally competent care readily available.
1:26:25
I have more recommendations but I'm also open to the questions that you might have later on.
1:26:30
Thank you so much.