NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Disability and transit advocates want the MTA to implement a 'full subway accessibility plan' to make more stations accessible to disabled riders and to those who find stairs an obstacle.
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The call comes in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Malaysia Goodman of Connecticut. She was found dead at the bottom of subway stairs in Midtown on Monday night. A stroller with her one-year-old daughter was found nearby.
Joe Rappaport is the executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled.
"This was an awful and avoidable tragedy. We don't know the details precisely of what happened, but it is clear that if there were elevators throughout the subway system it would make it a lot safe for all New Yorkers and accessible for New Yorkers with disabilities," he said.
The New York Post reports, only 24 percent of subway stations have elevators which break down an average of once a week, and many subway lines have stretches without accessibility.
Following Goodson's death, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson tweeted that, "the lack of accessibility in our subways is literally killing people."
The Medical Examiner's office has not yet ruled on a cause of death.
Law enforcement sources told the Post that Goodman didn't die from falling on the steps, but likely suffered a medical episode. She had a thyroid issue and had complained of headaches the day before.