On July 26, more than 1,000 disabled New Yorkers took to Washington Square Park for a rally to close out Disability Pride Month, celebrating the achievements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), affirming disability rights, and addressing ongoing actions against the disability community. The event was filled with food, music, and powerful advocacy. Shortly after the march ended, a group of passionate activists continued on to protest policy changes including Medicaid cuts at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan
Nicholas Astor, the Community Liaison for People with Disabilities at the NYC Comptroller’s Office, was there in his personal capacity among a group of individuals who went into the building to demonstrate. Astor wore a sign around his neck that said, “disability rights are under attack.” Moments after entering, the group, led by Nadina LaSpina, a disability rights activist, was forced out as part of a building evacuation. Some of the activists were arrested and zip-tied on the charges of trespassing.
“I think I was a little scared. It was my first time doing it,” Astor recalled. “But I knew that I believed in what I was doing. You know, I know that these Medicaid cuts are gonna either impact myself or other people.”
Reflecting on his role in serving the community, Astor shared: “I take that job very seriously and part of the way I see my job begins very public facing,” he said. “I’m ostensibly a disability advocate first, so if people in my community are getting arrested, then I should get arrested along with them and I shouldn’t get any special treatment.”
When asked about Astor’s arrest, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander responded with affirmation of Astor’s performance and character. “Nick is a great guy and has been doing great things for the comptroller’s office,” Comptroller Lander said. “I’m sure he wasn’t doing anything bad.”
Together, Lander and Astor have done significant work to support the disability community in NYC. They have convened Disability Justice roundtables, partnered with AHRC on inclusive internships, put out an economic spotlight on employment among people with disabilities, built a fully accessible website, and co-hosted the 2024 Disability Pride Parade.
Astor, who is a wheelchair user, encountered significant inaccessibility throughout the arrest process.
Neither the FDNY nor the NYPD have wheelchair accessible vehicles for circumstances when people with disabilities are arrested, meaning that heavy mobility devices are left behind and can be lost.
In the case of the arrests at Trump Tower, police officers stopped and rerouted three MTA buses to One Police Plaza to accommodate the multiple wheelchairs, as a single bus only has two accessible spots. Some wheelchairs were not properly secured
In response to an email inquiry, the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information noted that “it is not uncommon for the NYPD to commandeer MTA buses in mass arrest situations when it is the most efficient and safest accommodation to transport persons in custody.”
Much to Astor’s surprise, the inaccessibility continued at the jail site. He was separated from his aide, who he relies on for help with his basic needs, and locked in a cell with two other male wheelchair users. On two occasions, when Astor needed to use the restroom, he described them to be inaccessible. Although he was escorted by police, one restroom was down a narrow hallway that was blocked by a gym locker where his wheelchair didn’t fit, resulting in his aid having to carry him through; the other was an inaccessible portable toilet where he had to be carried in by his aid while an officer held the door closed.
Astor was held for a total of four hours due to a paperwork snafu and system malfunction that delayed his processing and release. Reflecting on the few hours spent behind bars, he told Able News that he “learned about what it’s like to be a disabled person who’s been arrested,” Astor said. “This is something I know innately about existing in other bureaucratic systems but what struck me is that the system was not super prepared to arrest people with disabilities.”
When informed of the arrest, Mike Schweinsburg, President of the 504 Democratic Club, shared that Astor “helped stage a truly effective protest that sent shock waves that directly touched Donald Trump and alerted the Press by putting his body and his freedom on the line to protect a most fundamental human right for the disabled community – our Healthcare”
“I’m fighting for my right to party, it’s about being able to live a whole life, and these cuts threaten to push us back to days when people with disabilities were institutionalized,” he said.
When Astor is not on the streets or in the office making strides for disability justice in NYC, he turns to his comedic audiences to “fill the holes in people’s perception of disability” through laughter.
Quoting the slogan of The Washington Post, Astor said, “‘Democracy dies in darkness,’ but I don’t think democracy’s the only thing that dies in darkness,” Astor ended. “ I think a lot of people who speak up for themselves or don’t have power oftentimes also gets swallowed up in a sense of darkness and so you gotta remind people that you’re here, your life matters, your voice matters and the more present we are, it makes it a whole lot harder to get rid of us.”