The New York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC) is seeking candidates interested in serving as volunteer council members beginning in 2023.

The primary responsibility of the council is to develop and monitor the State Plan for Independent Living, which is the blueprint for the programs and services that help New Yorkers with disabilities live independent, integrated lives in the community.

NYSILC is comprised of 26 members from across the state. NYSILC is seeking candidates to replace seven outgoing members. Council members are appointed to three-year terms. New members are assigned mentors to assist with onboarding and acclimation.

NYSILC aims to be representative of New York’s population and seeks diverse membership, including individuals with various disabilities, races/ethnicities, ages, and gender identification, geographically located throughout the state.

Interested individuals should complete an online application form (https://nysilc.org/council/council-member-application) in its entirety. Candidates must respond by June 30, 2022. Refer to the NYSILC background and member expectations (https://nysilc.org/resources/key-documents/other/312-nysilc-background-and-council-member-expectations/file) for more information.

If you have any questions about the application, process, or duties of council members, contact:

• Current member Stephanie Woodward at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or
• Brad Williams, Executive Director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2022 NYSILC Statewide Consumer Needs Survey

The New York State Independent Living Council, Inc. (NYSILC) is a statewide organization that develops a plan for Centers for Independent Living (CILs) to serve people with disabilities in New York State. We invite you to participate in this year’s consumer needs survey. Your answers will help us make sure that your needs are included in the statewide plan for services. Our goal is to make sure that all people with disabilities can fully be part of their communities and receive the services they need. Your opinions matter!

To further encourage you to reply, we will enter you in a drawing for one of FIVE $50 Amazon gift cards (only if you “opt-in”).  Otherwise, you won’t need to enter any identifying information at the end of the survey.

Please complete our survey by clicking on the link below or using a linked Word document version and following the return instructions at the end of the document.  All responses will be kept completely confidential and only the aggregated data will be reported.

To participate online: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2022ConsumerNeeds

• Link to Word version of the survey in English: https://nysilc.org/resources/key-documents/393-2022-nysilc-needs-assessment-consumer-survey/file. Perhaps you have difficulty navigating Survey Monkey or prefer to take the survey in this format.
• Enlace a la versión Word de la encuesta en español: https://nysilc.org/resources/key-documents/394-encuesta-del-consumidor-de-evaluacio-n-de-necesidades-de-nysilc-2022/file.
• Word版中文调查链接: https://nysilc.org/resources/key-documents/395-2022-nysilc/file.
• Ссылка на версию опроса в Word на русском языке: https://nysilc.org/resources/key-documents/396-2022-nysilc-1/file.

If you have filled out a Word version of the survey, please send the completed survey to Amy Wink at NYSILC by June 25, 2022, to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mail it to her attention at NYSILC, 111 Washington Ave., Suite 101, Albany, NY 12210.

Please complete the survey by our June 25, 2022 deadline.  Feel free to forward the email to your peers and send the link via social media. Thank you in advance for your support and participation!

NYSILC’s next Full Council Meeting will take place on Friday, May 13^th, 2022 at the Albany Wolf Road Marriott from 9:30 am – 1 pm. The meeting will be hybrid, with both people attending in person and others joining us via Zoom video conferencing. The meeting is open to the public, but due to security concerns using online video conferencing, we request that any members of the public who would like to participate contact us ahead of time for the meeting invite. Our “Contact Us” page can be found here: https://nysilc.org/contact-us

Please let us know by May 10th in the message if you need an interpreter and/or captioner during the meeting, as well as specify if you'd like to join us remotely or participate in person.

The agenda for the meeting is available on the calendar/event webpage, which can be found here: https://nysilc.org/component/dpcalendar/event/61

We look forward to having you join us either in person or virtually. Thank you!

After a two-year effort with volunteer assistance, NYSILC staff and the Public Policy Committee are pleased to announce the completion of the 2020 NYSILC Presidential Post-Election Survey Report.

Respondents randomly participated in the confidential, non-partisan poll to analyze the voting trends and practices of New Yorkers with disabilities compared to those without disabilities between November 4^th to December 4^th, 2020, via Survey Monkey. When possible comparisons were made to the 2016 survey results.

In retrospect, the council and New York IL network were at the forefront of ensuring access to voting 15-20 years ago. In the evidence brought forward by the State Board of Elections in an Article 78 action by NYSILC, the state claimed voting access was unnecessary because they had records of only 2,500 (approximate) voters with disabilities statewide (these were absentee ballots). Our network fought hard for physical and voting machine access as noted in the documentary, HAVA: The Long Round to a Fundamental Right

 At the end of the documentary, the question is asked, will we turn out to vote? Facing continued attitudinal barriers to our fundamental rights was nothing new, but the disability community continued to turn out to vote in numbers over the next decade. Voting practices have been enhanced and improved in the state with some needing extension.

The 2020 post-election survey report establishes voting trends and practices for New Yorkers with disabilities and recommends areas for growth in future years.

NYSILC is proud to announce the class of 2022 inductees for this year’s New York State Disability Rights Hall of Fame. This year we’ll be honoring five new inductees who have made lifelong achievements which positively impact people with disabilities in society. The class of 2022 will be:

Bernard Carabello
Susan Dooha
Judy Heumann
Sally Johnston
Janice Lintz

This year we will be inducting our 5 new members into our Hall of Fame during our hybrid in-person and virtual event on May 12^th, 2022. Join us either in person at the Marriott Hotel on Wolf Road in Albany or virtually via our Zoom livestream. Stay tuned for our upcoming announcement when tickets go on sale!

For more information visit our page here: https://nysilc.org/hof

To read our inductee's bios, visit the link here: https://nysilc.org/inductees/32-2022

NYSILC’s next Full Council Meeting will take place on Friday, January 28^th, 2022 from 10 am – 1 pm. The meeting will be held on Zoom video conferencing. The meeting is open to the public, but due to security concerns using online video conferencing, we request that any members of the public who would like to participate and join our meeting contact us ahead of time for the meeting invite. Our contact us page can be found here: https://nysilc.org/contact-us

 Please let us know in the message if you need an interpreter and/or captioner during the meeting.

The agenda for the meeting is available at the calendar/event webpage link later this week: https://nysilc.org/component/dpcalendar/event/59

We look forward to having you join us. Thank you!