Trapped in the Towers

Author

Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky, Cuny Graduate School of JournalismFollow

Graduation Date

Fall 12-14-2018

Grading Professor

Marshall Allen

Subject Concentration

Health & Science

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

New York City’s public housing, known as NYCHA, is a popular choice for disabled and elderly adults. 40% of NYCHA residents receive support from government programs intended to help older New Yorkers and New Yorkers with disabilities, and 32% of NYCHA households include an elderly person. Contrast that to New York City as a whole, where 11.2% of the population is disabled and 13% is elderly. For many disabled and elderly New Yorkers, NYCHA is one of precious few affordable options in an increasingly expensive city. But recent reporting suggests that NYCHA housing may be especially poorly suited for people with disabilities. Over the years, the Housing Authority has become notorious for the utility failures, and mold and pest problems, and elevator failures that plague its buildings. These problems are nuisances for most tenants. But to people with disabilities, they are incredibly limiting and at times downright dangerous. Elevator outages, in particular, trap wheelchair users in their homes or leave them stranded in lobbies. Those who can walk are forced to climb dozens of flights of stairs, sometimes suffering falls or asthma attacks. And the fear of being trapped by an outage keeps disabled tenants at home even when the elevators are working properly. In this project, I use elevator outage data and firsthand accounts to show the human toll of these outages.

Link: http://jaclynjeffreywilensky.com/jjw-capstone/

Recommended Citation

Jeffrey-Wilensky, Jaclyn, "Trapped in the Towers" (2018). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/659