ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A 62-year-old former chef is walking across New York to call attention to the treatment of the disabled in state care.
Tom Cavanagh, from East Berne in Albany County, says he began the 600-mile walk for the Jonathan Carey Foundation on Sept. 22 in Buffalo.
After reaching Albany on Friday, he says he was domestically abused as a boy but finally grew old enough to end it, something he says disabled people who are abused will never do on their own.
Jonathan Carey was a disabled 13-year-old who was smothered in 2007 by an aide at O.D. Heck, a state residential facility near Albany.
His father, who established the foundation, says incidents should be reported to police at 911 and not to the state’s new Justice Center.
