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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Sakeena Trice, Senior Staff Attorney, Disability Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) on Support for CUNY Students with Disabilities
4:19:06
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101 sec
Sakeena Trice, a senior staff attorney with a physical disability, testified about the urgent need to support students with disabilities in higher education, particularly at CUNY. She highlighted systemic barriers to inclusion and discrimination faced by students with disabilities across CUNY campuses.
- Trice supported CUNY's $2.1 million FY2026 budget request to improve disability services offices, but emphasized that staffing alone won't solve the problem.
- She urged the council to investigate ongoing discrimination, allocate critical funding, and help build a more inclusive system for all students.
- Trice stressed the need for ongoing training and accountability in addition to increased staffing for disability services offices.
Sakeena Trice
4:19:06
My name is Sakina Trice.
4:19:08
I am a senior staff attorney in the disability justice program at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
4:19:14
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the urgent need to support students with disabilities in higher education here in New York City.
4:19:21
I am a person with a physical disability, and so this issue is personal to me in many ways.
4:19:25
And I identify with the struggle to have services that are accessible and inclusive in my educational pursuit.
4:19:31
Over the past year, NOPE has expanded our work in higher education accessibility, and we found that students with disabilities face significant, often systemic barriers to inclusion, particularly across CUNY campuses.
4:19:43
Students come to our office detailing how they are routinely denied reasonable accommodations.
4:19:48
They are met with hostility from the disability service offices that are meant to support them.
4:19:53
They are harassed.
4:19:54
They even explain how when their accommodations are approved by the DSO, certain professors still do not implement their accommodations.
4:20:03
And so this is not just an issue of policy failure.
4:20:06
It's a civil rights confirm concern.
4:20:08
Excuse me.
4:20:08
Thus, we support CUNY's two point one million f y twenty twenty six budget request to improve its disability services office.
4:20:15
These offices are severely understaffed and undertrained, and the stories we hear from students make it clear that staffing alone will not solve the problem.
4:20:23
Ongoing training and accountability must also be prioritized.
4:20:28
Although the budget includes some increases, which indicates little progress, it is still not enough to provide the proper support to students with disability.
4:20:36
We urge the council to investigate ongoing discrimination, allocate critical funding, and help us build a more inclusive system for all students.
4:20:45
Thank you for your time and your commitment to equity.