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JUNE 2004


Commissioner Matthew Sapolin:
Making a Difference for People with Disabilities
by Joan Baum, Ph.D.

It’s as though October 20 were right around the corner for Matthew P. Sapolin, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD). With a rush in his voice, an eagerness to note everything of importance about how he and his staff are preparing for that day, the commissioner is moving on all fronts. His office is partnering that day with The American Association of People with Disabilities, which has designated New York City as the national focus site of Disability Mentoring Day. The event, for Sapolin, will mark both a culmination of the “big three” activities of his office—attention to housing, transportation and employment needs—and a rededication of updated goals.

Though Sapolin has been in his position for only a year and a half, MOPD is 31 years old, having been established by then Mayor Abraham Beame “to serve as a liaison between City government and disabled individuals and organizations representing or serving New Yorkers with disabilities.” In particular, MOPD works to ensure that people with disabilities—approximately 56 million children and adults in the country—”are considered in the development of City policies, programs, and services.” That mission translates for the Commissioner as serving the needs of the disabled by direct intervention, collaboration with, and referral to, other agencies, and promoting awareness, particularly about jobs—the emphasis of Disability Day. According to national data, at least 70% of persons with disabilities who are available for meaningful work remain unemployed.

To achieve its goal of bringing together mentors—local employers and corporate leaders—and mentees—those seeking full and part-time jobs and internships—MOPD is mobilizing business leaders and alerting academic institutions and the media. An April job fair held at the Pennsylvania Hotel hosted 150 vendors and a “packed” house of job seekers. A “tandem networking” event was held in May, and on September 15 a Career Expo will be held in conjunction with the Department of Youth Services and Community Development. Not a placement agency MOPD’s main charge is to bring “awareness” to a wide and diverse population. The Fortune 500 companies are pretty knowledgeable about MOPD, Sapolin says, having put aside, like J.P. Morgan Chase, special funding to attract persons with disabilities. The challenge is to involve the smaller businesses, “to let them know about the benefits of hiring the disabled.” And of course, to let the disabled know they have “voice and visibility” in his office, an ironic phrase, perhaps, were it not for the fact that demonstrating ability is what Matthew Sapolin himself is all about.

Only in his mid-thirties, Sapolin brings with him years of experience as co-executive director of the Queens Independent Living Center, Coordinator of the Client Assistance Program for the Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York, and as a graduate of the Wagner School of Public Health Administration at NYU. Blind since the age of five, Sapolin loses not a nanosecond in zipping through computer files fishing for information. Though he thinks it important that a disabled person heads MOPD, he wants business in the city to hire not disabled people but finance folks, people who are specialists in human services, writers, computer experts—professionals who happen to be disabled. A statement made recently by a visiting attorney from Sydney, Australia sums up Sapolin’s sentiments: “A city’s sophistication is best judged by the manner in which it looks after the access issues for its citizens with disabilities.” The Commissioner is out to ensure that the City’s activities, institutions and infrastructure not only “mirror our society,” but project its best, most humane and civilizing values.#

For information on Disability Mentoring Day and for a complete list of publications call: (212) 788-2830 or visit www.nyc.gov/html/mopd.

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