Sandra Schnur (July 30, 1935 – February 2, 1994) was a pioneer American disability rights leader and author, working mainly in New York City.

Early life

Schnur was born on July 30, 1935, in New York City to a Jewish family. Schnur contracted polio in 1950 at age 15. The disease rendered her a quadriplegic. She had a long period of

rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

, including much time spent in an iron lung. After a period in residence at Warm Springs, she was

home schooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

to complete her high school education. In 1952, Schnur was evaluated by the New York Vocational Education program, and was advised to become a basket weaver. Schnur requested instead to be allowed to attend college. The program advisor did not like her refusal to accept his recommendation, and marked her as "uncooperative".Doris Zames Fleischer & Frieda Zames, ''The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation'', Temple University Press (2001), , p. 35

Career as activist for disabled persons

In 1963 Schnur published "New York With Ease", a wheelchair-access guide to the City of New York, published by the Easter Seals Society. She was employed in the Mayor's Office for the Handicapped, under

Eunice K. Fiorito Eunice K. Fiorito (October 1, 1930 – November 22, 1999) was an American disability rights activist and social worker. She was president of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD). Early life and education Eunice Kathleen Fr ...

. In 1965 the State of New York agreed to allow Schnur to attend college. She attended

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

and New York University, earning a Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in

Counseling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. This is a list of co ...

. Schnur became Director of the New York City Half-fare Program for the Handicapped. As one of the few disabled administrators in the Department of Transportation at this critical time, she played an important role in providing wheelchair-accessible buses and vans to nonprofit organizations, as well as the introduction of pedestrian ramps/curb cuts and lift-equipped city buses. In the late 1970s, New York City officials decided that they no longer wished to provide direct personal assistance services for seniors and persons with disabilities, but would oversee contracts with private nonprofit vendors. By this time Schnur had written several position papers with the assistance of

Marilyn Saviola Marilyn E. Saviola (July 13, 1945 – November 23, 2019) was an American disability rights activist, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York from 1983 to 1999, and vice president of Independence Care Sy ...

on what she called "self-direction," — severely disabled persons with disabilities had the capacity to manage their own personal assistance services, as opposed to the "medical model" where the agency is the employer and the consumer is not in charge of his or her own household. She brought together a group of individuals, which included

, Muriel Zgardowski, Vincent Zgardowski, Ira Holland, Ed Litcher, Daniel Ginsburg, and Gertrude Schleier, to demand consumer-directed personal assistance services. This group protested (with attached ventilators) outside a Board of Estimate hearing. When Schnur was about to be honored as an "outstanding" city employee by Mayor

Abraham Beame Abraham David Beame (March 20, 1906February 10, 2001) was the 104th mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1977. As mayor, he presided over the city during its fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, when the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy. ...

in a ceremony at Gracie Mansion, home care administrators, hearing of her plan to denounce the pending vendorizing of home care services, told her that it was unnecessary because she had won her point. Schnur believed that consumers should have even greater independence. She formulated a paper calling for a voucher program, a precursor to the Consumer-Directed Cash and Counseling project that was eventually adopted in several states, which she presented to the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo. In Schnur's voucher program, severely disabled individuals would receive one check, which could be used without restrictions, including management of home care needs, including personal care services. Although the program was adopted by the Governor and passed by the State Legislature, no startup funding was provided. In 1980, following a series of meetings with consumers and Department of Social Services administrators, this group agreed to create the Client Maintained Plan, the pioneer Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, and have it administered by Concepts of Independence, Inc. During this period, Schnur was a founder of Women with Disabilities United, received appointments to the Mayor's Commission on the Status of Women, and as the only consumer on the Governor's Home Care Council.

Concepts of Independence

Concepts of Independence is a consumer organization that was co-founded in 1977 by Schnur,

, Victoria Holland, Ira Holland and Ed Lichter, formulated to be a Fiscal-Intermediary: to receive Medicaid funds and to pay salaries, taxes, and benefits to personal care workers based upon information provided by the consumer. In addition to saving government/taxpayer money, the client was enabled and authorized to "hire, fire and train a home attendant."

Sylvia Friedman Sylvia M. Friedman was a former New York State Assemblywoman. She was elected to fill an unexpired term on February 28, 2006. Friedman was a long time community activist and a member of her local community board. Her main focus was on housing a ...

, for a while, served as Program Director. Subsequent to the death of Victoria Holland in 1979 and the adoption of the new Consumer Board of Directors in 1980, Schnur became the President of Concepts of Independence. Schnur served this role until her death from

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

on February 2, 1994.

Personal life and legacy

Schnur married Marvin Wasserman in 1983. Schnur was inducted into the New York State Disability Rights Hall of Fame in 2019. Concepts of Independence awards an annual plaque in memory of Schnur, the ''Sandra Schnur Emerging Leadership Award''. Schnur's husband also began hosting an annual memorial Seder after her death, to which large groups are invited.

Works

* "New York With Ease" (1963)

References