Mike Gwizdala reports in the Troy Record that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the creation of the Office of the Chief Disability Officer to advocate on behalf of persons with disabilities in Troy Feb. 14.. “This is a historic day, it truly, truly is and I’ll call this also a day that is long overdue,” Hochul said. “To all the advocates who never gave up the fight, to recognize that the disability community, and it is vast, it is influential, and it has a voice that needs to be heard, that finally, we have an office,” Hochul explained on the establishment of the vital office. Kimberly T. Hill will lead the office as the state’s first chief disability officer. Hill has experience as the principal analyst for the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on People with Disabilities and, before that, as director of the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities. “We’re gonna do everything we can to start improving the lives of people with disabilities across the state,” Hill remarked on championing issues of import to disabled New Yorkers. “Today’s a day that we need to celebrate. We’ve worked lots of years to get to this place and we get to go to work. We’ve got a lot of issues, we’ve got home care, housing, education, employment, more ADA access, and improving access to all types of programs and services for all the state agencies that we’re going to be working with,” Hill said. Read more about this story in the Troy Record.