Marriage between same-sex partners has had much attention in the media through the years, yet a couple in Manorville, Long Island, would say there’s another group of people whose right to marry is under question.
Paul Forziano and Hava Samuels were married in April. Even after their marriage, they cannot live together. Why? Because they have intellectual disabilities.
At this point, you might be wondering if the state of New York has a law against marriage between people with cognitive impairments. It does not. However, what is supported in law may be prohibited in practice.
Forziano and Samuels live in two different group homes for people with intellectual disabilities. Administrators at each group home have forbidden the couple from living together. Their families are supporting them to sue the agencies that own the group homes for the right to live together.
Although this is an isolated incident, and couples with intellectual disabilities across the nation are married and living together successfully, it is just one example of the continued discrimination toward people with intellectual disabilities 23 years after the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In many cases, the assumption is people who have intellectual disabilities cannot hold jobs, have families or participate in their communities. This is often true – not because these people do not have the capacity, but because others create artificial barriers to their success.
Even when agency administrators are not actively preventing couples with disabilities from living together, the availability of supported housing for married couples may be difficult to find. Married couples may be financially penalized as well. The standard Supplemental Security Income disability payment for married couples is significantly lower than it is for two single people.
People with disabilities should have all the same rights and opportunities as everyone. What often prevents them is the lack of adequate supports. If Forziano and Samuels could live independently, they would not be dependent on the decisions of agency administrators. Some people with cognitive impairments require supports, funded by public money, for daily living tasks such as meal preparation, housekeeping or money management. The need for these supports can make people dependent on systems that are not designed to support their independence.
Now, our public money is keeping people dependent, excluded and isolated.
Imagine this scenario for Forziano and Samuels instead. Before the wedding, social workers help them find an apartment they can afford with the combination of their employment and disability incomes. They arrange for professional support workers to come in on a daily basis to help with independent-living skills. Other daily tasks and supervision may be arranged by using technology that monitors and prompts the couple for their health and safety. After the wedding, Forziano and Samuels move into this setting, ready to live life happily ever after. Together. Just like any newlyweds.
It isn’t fantasy. It’s a wise use of our resources. It’s dignity.
Tara Kiene is the director of case management with Community Connections Inc.
