Tom Abinanti has conducted a broad general practice of law covering various aspect of civil and criminal law. He has experience gained from representing a wide-range of clients. He is known best for his advocacy for people with disabilities and his expertise in Election Law matters.

Tom is admitted to all State and Federal Courts of New York and Connecticut. He is a member of the New York State, Westchester County and White Plains Bar Associations. He co-authored several law review articles for NYU Annual Survey of American Law, authored numerous newspaper columns and newsletters and drafted numerous state, county and local laws.

He served as legislative counsel to a member of Congress, Prosecuting Attorney for the Villages of Ardsley and Dobbs Ferry, attorney for the Greenburgh Housing Authority and pro bono attorney for the Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion.

Tom Abinanti is a recognized advocate for people with disabilities. The father of a young man with autism, Tom is particularly sensitive to the special needs of people with disabilities. Tom has experienced first-hand the challenges of living with a developmental disability and has interacted with many families whose loved ones face similar – or different challenges.  He is active in the “disability” community working to insure that people with intellectual disabilities are afforded their rights to a sound education, appropriate housing, and the services they need to live a good quality life. Recognizing the need for both government assistance and family action, Tom has seen the strengths and short-comings of the New York system created to assist them.

Tom has used his legal expertise to help people with disabilities and their families in various types of matters. He previously served as a consultant to The Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health to address the lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Tom served in the New York Assembly. He chaired the Committee on People with Disabilities and explored New York’s system in depth – its responsibilities, goals and funding. He and his staff, assisted families from around the state with the myriad issues that they face and drafted several new laws to assist them.

Tom Abinanti understands the role government must play to help people who can’t always help themselves. Tom Abinanti knows that we must do all possible to spur the State to make people with disabilities a priority. He knows people with different abilities are an under-appreciated resource – given a chance, they can help better our community. He also sees the numerous ways New York State is failing people with disabilities – and how to fix it.

So Tom created Special Needs NY to lead the charge to make people with disabilities a priority in New York.

It’s not just money – it’s policy. There is a significant agenda.

• Education (sufficient state funding for special education);
• Health Care (restore early intervention, require broader insurance company reimbursements);
• Housing and daily living assistance (increase number of and adequate funding for facilities and better staff training; facilitate family-initiated non- certified alternative housing opportunities)
• Jobs (facilitate employment with job training; education, technical assistance and incentives for employers);
• Crisis response (address their special mental health needs, including providing appropriately trained crisis intervention and crisis respite centers; appropriate training for all community first responders)
• Fair and dignified treatment (enact a bill of rights for those in OPWDD certified residences; due process for people with disabilities negatively impacted by OPWDD decisions).

The cost of deferring solutions is tremendous – not just in wasted lives of people with disabilities but in the additional tax dollars that will eventually be needed to deal with the results of the neglect.

Tom served in the New York State Assembly for 12 years (2011-2022) where he was chair of various Assembly Committees including the Committee on People with Disabilities.

Prior to the Assembly, Tom served as a Westchester County Legislator, a Greenburgh Town Councilman and President of the Orchard Hill Civic Association.

Tom served as Executive Vice-Chair of the Greenburgh Democratic Committee and, most recently, as Chair of the Mount Pleasant Democratic Committee.

Tom lives with his wife Janet Longo-Abinanti and their son Justin in Pleasantville. A former science teacher, Janet now works in the special needs field. Justin was a student at Pleasantville High School in a Special Education Program.

Tom graduated from NYU Law School (J.D.), Fordham College (B.A.) and Xaverian High School (Brooklyn). He has taught Continuing Legal Education Courses for Pace Law School (White Plains) and courses in State and Local Government as an adjunct professor at Mercy College (Dobbs Ferry).