Nonprofit Offers Shelter to Disabled Couple Denied a Home

While a developmentally disabled couple that married in April remains in court with their state-sanctioned care providers for not allowing them to live together, one Riverhead-based nonprofit has offered the couple the opportunity to get out of court and into a home with one another.

Upon hearing about the litigation involving Paul Forziano and Hava Samuels, East End Disabilities Associates recently offered the couple the opportunity to live in a home where other couples currently live.

"We have several couples who are married or have lived together for a period of time," said Lisa Fertal, co-founder of EEDA. "These are people who hold jobs and face the same challenges the rest of us have, in relationships, and in general."

However while the lawsuit remains only in its initial stages at this point, the couple is opting to see how things play out in the courts, according to their lawyer, Martin Coleman. The couples' families declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit, which names as defendants Maryhaven Center of Hope, Independent Group Home Living, the Office of Persons With Developmental Disabilities and the State of New York.

"We need the state to change its policies," said Coleman. "If they were to go to a facility that welcomed them, and then they had to leave – which could be a possibility – that's quite a bit of movement ... We need the state to make this their policy, even if they go somewhere else."

Citing irreparable harm to his clients, Coleman is currently seeking a preliminary injunctive relief, which would allow the couple to live together while the lawsuit plays out, despite the nonprofits' claims that they will not accommodate them.

The couple has "the same capacity for emotional pain as other married couples forced to separate for economic reasons or military obligations. The difference is that Paul and Hava's separation is imposed while in other circumstances a family decision has been made," according to the lawsuit.

The case is being watched across the country, since some providers voluntarily offer living situations for married disabled couples, there is no track record of a provider being forced to.

EEDA is one of several organizations on Long Island that permit their clients to live together as married couples, including United Cerebral Palsy, YAI, and Family Residences and Essential Enterprises.

FREE publicized the marriage of one of their couples recently, of Joe Horst and Gretchen Vankoeverden.

Horst's mother, Paige Nelson, echoed a similar sentiment as Fertal.

"It is important to everyone to realize that just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you don’t have the capacity to love,” Paige Nelson said.