>Sunday, July 13, 2008
BY EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITERRIDGEWOOD – Village officials are taking measures to establish a panel that would serve as a formal sounding board to address the needs and concerns of the disabled community.
“My sense is that Ridgewood has done a good job, but there is always room for improvement,” said Councilman Paul S. Aronsohn, a proponent of the Ridgewood Committee on Disability Issues.
Aronsohn and Village Manager James Ten Hoeve have invited the public to a meeting Thursday at Village Hall to discuss the need, potential scope, and role of a disability committee.
James Thebery, the director of the county’s Division of Disability Services, will also attend.
“We want to go beyond ADA [the Americans with Disabilities Act] and address emergency preparedness issues and quality of life,” Aronsohn said. “There are day-to-day issues you don’t think about – quality-of-life issues that can impact someone’s life.”
Aronsohn encouraged village residents to attend and offer input in what could be a series of organizational meetings.
“Rather than me decide the parameters, we want to hear from parents, families, caregivers … so that we can see what the scope should be,” he said.
Board of Education and library officials, as well as emergency service personnel, are expected to attend.
The disability community may have issues that range from what to do in a flood or fire to how to commute within the village, Aronsohn said.
“There may be people on oxygen and we may need to know who they are, where they live … we need to get a handle on what we need to do,” Aronsohn said. “And ground transportation. How many people in town have physical limitations? We need to ask if we should have a bus service in town.
“The committee is a sounding board, a platform to start a dialogue and we hope to have a committee up and running by the end of the year,” Aronsohn said.
E-mail: coutros@northjersey.com