New York City’s disabled community has been hit hard by COVID, though it is barely mentioned. The pandemic has only exacerbated the issues that have existed for decades: high unemployment, poverty and access to health care. 

And there are other worries, like access to vaccines, even though many of the disabled live with comorbidities that place them among the most vulnerable to the virus. 

Brooklyn City Councilwoman Farah Louis chairs the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities and Addictions and she joined In Focus to talk, not only about those issues, but about what the city can and should be doing to mitigate them.

While New York stands to gain billions from the American Rescue Plan, there are rumors of funding cuts to agencies that support the disabled and the organizations that advocate for them. 

She also talked about the mental health problems brought on by the isolation, job losses and insecurities of the pandemic, about the help she’s working to make available to those who need it and about what she’s doing to make sure the disabled have equal access to vaccines.