Some attendees at the
City Hall celebration are, back row left to right, award winner Vikas Khanna;
the Rev. John Massari of Our Lady of Pompei, R.C.; award winner Lawrence Joseph
Seiler; Comptroller William Thompson; Tara Cortes, president of Lighthouse
International; Brother Rick Curry, S.J., founder of the National Theatre
Workshop of the Handicapped; and Marco Damiani, director of clinical and family
services, YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities Network. Front
row left to right, are award winners Edith Prentiss, Rhoda Rousso and Flerida
Pena.
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 New York City Comptroller William Thompson, Jr. recently
honored five New Yorkers and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest at his
national disability awareness month celebration. The event was co-sponsored
with YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities Network and Lighthouse
International.
“We need to spread the word and drive the message home that
there is absolutely no limit to what can be achieved by people who are living
with disabilities. Break down the assumptions, open the doors, make it possible
for all people to contribute their talents, ideas and leadership, and we all
benefit,” said Thompson. We all know that victories, great and small, do
not happen overnight. That’s why it is important to honor the hard work
that has made progress possible, and pay tribute to the men and women who paved
the way. Let us draw inspiration from those who are setting a positive example
today – the people who work every day to bring about meaningful
change.”
The first honoree, Vikas Khanna, is a chef, restauranteur and
activist. He is the founder of Cooking for Life, a non-profit organization that
brings together celebrated chefs for tasting events that raise funds for relief
efforts around the world.
The next honoree, Edith Prentiss, is involved in numerous
organizations and initiatives that are working to improve the lives of people
with disabilities and the elderly. She is first vice president of Disabled in
Action, president emeritus of the Manhattan BoroughWide InterAgency Council on
Aging and chairperson of the Presbyterian Hospital Community Health Council.
She also is a member of the Disability Network of New York City, the Washington
Heights and Inwood Council on Aging and the New York State Independent Living
Council, as well as a leader in the Taxis For All Campaign.
Next, Thompson
honored the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest’s Disability Law
Center. The Disability Law Center is one of the leading legal advocacy
organizations for people with disabilities in New York state that provides a
full range of services to protect and promote the civil rights of the
disabled.
The next honoree, Rhoda Rousso, is a social service provider and
community advocate. She currently serves as coordinator of Deafness Services at
Catholic Charities of Brooklyn. She also has served as an instructor to deaf
students at New York City Technical College and LaGuardia Community College and
worked at the New York Society for the Deaf, American Sign Language Institute
and New York University. She is an honorary member of the Brooklyn Society for
the Deaf and a former member of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation
Association and the New York American Sign Language Teachers
Association.
The next honoree was Flerida Pena, a service coordinator for the
early intervention program at Volunteers of America, where she helps families
with special needs. Pena also participates in the City University of New
York’s Youth Transition Demonstration Project, where she helps parents and
their children with special needs prepare for their transition to adulthood.
She also participates in a parent support group at Services for the
Developmentally Challenged.
The final
honoree was Lawrence Joseph Seiler, creator and host of the acclaimed Bronxnet
television program “Special People/Special Issues,” which addresses a
wide range of issues affecting people with disabilities who live in the local
community.
The YAI Players/Theater of Dreams performed at the event.
Brother Rick Curry, artistic director of the National Theatre Workshop of the
Handicapped, gave the Invocation and the Rev. John Massari of Our Lady of
Pompeii Roman Catholic Church offered the Benediction.
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