Weisenberg app helps those with special needs

Ellen and Harvey Weisenberg with their son, Ricky, who is developmentally disabled and inspired the former state assemblyman to launch The Harvey & Ellen Weisenberg Special Needs Resource Corp.

Courtesy Harvey Weisenberg

The app, pictured, is on Android devices via Google Play, and will soon be coming to iOS devices through the Apple App Store. An online version can be found at m.specialneedsapp.net.

Courtesy Harvey Weisenberg

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Former State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, who has long been an advocate for the developmentally disabled, and his wife, Ellen, recently launched a nonprofit foundation and a free smartphone app that includes information about the rights of citizens with special needs, along with details about educational programs, agencies and organizations.

Weisenberg’s son, Ricky, 57, is developmentally disabled, and inspired the former legislator to advocate on behalf of those with special needs and their families. Weisenberg became known for his efforts to help these families when he fought Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013 to restore $90 million in cuts for resources for those with special needs.

“My mission and Ellen’s mission in life — and God sent us on this mission — is to put a face on Ricky and all special children for the joy and happiness they bring to our world,” Weisenberg said in a video on his organization’s website. “It is so vitally important for people to understand the challenge of having a special child is also a privilege.”

Even after he retired in 2014 following 25 years as an assemblyman, Weisenberg said he kept getting calls from families of the developmentally disabled, seeking information on how to get help for their children. In many cases, the disabled age out of care offered by the education system at 21, and the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities’ Front Door program, which cares for adults, has a long waiting list.

He founded The Harvey & Ellen Weisenberg Special Needs Resource Corp. in November, and collaborated with a friend, Dave Feldman, who has a developmentally disabled niece, to develop the virtual resource, which launched last month. The two met a few years ago during the making a short film called “Everyone Deserves a Decent Life,” which won the Allen Fortunoff Humanitarian Film Award at the Long Island International Film Expo in 2014. It highlighted the struggles of the developmentally disabled, and the pair now look to further remedy some of those hardships with the app.