Cambridge committee opens first dedicated review of disability services, schedules follow-up

CAMBRIDGE — March 11, 2026 — Cambridge Human Services Committee convenes first dedicated disability services hearing, finds gaps alongside programs. The Human Services and Veterans Committee met March 11 with representatives from six city departments and Cambridge's ADA coordinator, Rachel Tannenhaus, who told councilors that roughly 7.5 percent of Cambridge residents identify as having a disability, a figure that rises to 40 percent among residents 75 and older. Three public speakers challenged the city's record: John Summers, a Fairmont Street father of a child with nonverbal autism, said Transportation Commissioner Brooke McKenna told him at a December 9 community meeting that she had "never heard of" the Cambridge Program for Individuals with Special Needs when he raised concerns about a bike lane's effect on that facility's access; advisory board member Nyeta Green said city housing applications require notarization of zero-income forms while state benefit programs do not, calling paper-based applications an access barrier for residents with mobility or learning disabilities; and a third commenter asked how a soon-to-be-18-year-old with autism could stay in Cambridge given an eight-to-ten-year public housing waitlist and no city residency preference for people with disabilities. Chair McGovern flagged additional specific gaps — an MLK event held at an inaccessible church, inadequate sidewalk lighting since the city's LED conversion, and no protocol for clearing disability parking spaces after snowstorms — and directed staff to compile outstanding questions for a public follow-up response before scheduling a second focused meeting.