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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MAY 17, 2020
New Yorkers with developmental
disabilities adapt to life at home
BY ROSE ADAMS &
MARK HALLUM
The New York City ferry
system has seen a nearly 80
percent drop in ridership
since the beginning of the
COVID-19 outbreak, city offi
cials revealed on May 11.
The NYC Ferry — whose
six lines link Brooklyn,
Manhattan, the Bronx, and
Queens — clocked nearly
20,000 riders during April,
down from more than 97,000
in April of last year.
The four ferry lines that
land in Brooklyn saw a
slightly larger decrease in
ridership, with 81 percent
fewer travelers.
Critics charge that continuing
to run ferries during
the pandemic wastes
taxpayer money, since the
heavily-subsidized system
charges taxpayers already
$10 per ride. But the Economic
The city’s ferry system has witnessed an 80 percent drop in ridership
because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Todd Maisel
Development Corporation,
the quasi-governmental
organization that
operates the ferries, claimed
that essential workers still
use the ferries, and that a reduction
service has already
cut some of its costs.
“NYC Ferry has been operating
on a modifi ed schedule
for several weeks as we
continue to serve our essential
and frontline employees
during this challenging
time,” spokesman Chris
Stapleton said. “By running
these modifi ed schedules,
NYC Ferry reduced service
by 30-percent and is seeing
signifi cant savings.”
BY BEN VERDE
Children and adults with
developmental disabilities
have found their routines
thrown off dramatically by
the coronavirus pandemic,
leaving those who care for
them struggling to fi ll the
gaps in their days at home.
For Suffolk County
mother-of-three Chrissy
Young, New York’s stay-athome
order has meant the
end of the predictability that
her sons Nicholas and Michael,
who both have levelthree
Autism, rely on.
“You and I can say ‘Oh,
we’ll go with the fl ow,’” said
Young. “But when you’re
dealing with people with
disabilities, that’s not in
their playbook.”
Nicholas and Michael, 10,
and 8 respectively, now center
their days around Zoom
calls with their school — the
Elija School in Levittown.
While having something
structured to anchor them
has been a lifesaver, Young
said, human contact from
teachers and classmates has
been impossible to replicate.
“Nothing is like seeing
people, and holding people,
and hugging people,” Young
said. “But we’re doing the
best we can.”
Compounding the issue,
her sons have had to go without
seeing the people they
formed connections with at
school — and with little to
no explanation.
“One day they saw them
and one day they didn’t,”
Young said. “I cannot imagine,
for my boys, what that
was like.”
To keep her kids — who
are both non-verbal — occupied
without having anywhere
to go, Young and her
husband have taken them
on drives through Suffolk
County, and opened
up their backyard pool for
them to play in after remote
learning, but there’s only
so much they can do while
hunkered down.
“My husband and I have
learned we’re really not
that exciting,” she said.
While Michael and Nicholas
have virtual learning
to anchor their days,
structure has been harder
to maintain for adults with
developmental disabilities
who are not in a school program,
according to Lynne
Koufakis, who chairs the
board of Life’s Worc, a network
of group homes in
New York City and Long Island.
Organizations like Life’s
Worc have found themselves
on the front lines of
the COVID-19 pandemic but
for Koufakis, who has two
sons at home with developmental
disabilities, the obstacle
is twofold.
“It’s extremely challenging,”
she said. “It’s frustrating.
It’s mentally and physically
exhausting.”
Many parents have had
to rely on technology to
help get them through these
uncertain — and unstructured
— times.
“The computer is great,
and a curse at the same
time,” said Koufakis, whose
children are stuck spending
much of their time inside in
front of a screen. “They get
addicted.”
While sheltering in
place has not been easy for
everyone, Young acknowledges
that those with developmental
disabilities are
going through a completely
different trial of their own.
“I cannot imagine — disabled
people who cannot relay
or express the fear that
they have, the emotion that
they have,” she said.
The Young family has had to adapt to life at home during the coronavirus
pandemic. Photo by Chrissy Young
Ferries see 80 percent
drop in ridership
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