S2315

The New York State Senate passed Senate Print 2315 on a voice vote, approving legislation to name a state facility after Willie Mae Goodman, a disability rights advocate who fought to protect children from the horrors of Willowbrook School. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Cleare, passed 58-0. During floor debate, Sen. Brisport praised Goodman's decades-long advocacy against Willowbrook, where disabled children were subjected to inhumane conditions and medical experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s. Brisport noted that despite widespread documentation of abuses by 1972, the state facility remained open for another 15 years until its closure in 1987. He used the occasion to highlight that similar dehumanizing practices continue in other state-funded institutions today, including the use of electroshock devices on disabled individuals. The bill honors Goodman's legacy as an advocate who "chose to act" in the face of systemic abuse.

The New York State Senate passed legislation naming a state facility after Willie Mae 'Goody' Goodman, a 92-year-old disability rights advocate, on a vote of 61-0. Sen. Cleare, the bill's sponsor, delivered an emotional tribute to Goodman, crediting her with exposing the inhumane conditions at Willowbrook State School and spearheading efforts to secure community-based living rights for people with developmental disabilities. Cleare noted that Goodman, who turned 92 last week, visited the Senate chamber for the first time in her life to be honored as a Woman of Distinction. The senator emphasized that Goodman's decades of advocacy work, including instrumental involvement in lawsuits against the Department of Mental Hygiene, transformed disability services in New York by ensuring vulnerable populations could live in their local communities with dignity and support. Cleare's daughter Margaret has lived in a community residence in Harlem since 1991. The naming is intended to serve as a lasting recognition of Goodman's contributions to disability rights while she is alive to witness the honor.