"After nearly seven months on the job, it shouldn’t continue to amaze me, but it does. I’m still in absolute awe of the depth of commitment and caring exhibited by many of the people I come in contact with daily. Busy people, with jobs and families and other obligations, who still find the time to answer the call for volunteers, and who give freely of their time for the benefit of others.

I wasn’t sure what to expect during my first Disability Awareness Day, but I was pretty confident of the response I could expect from staff, teachers and community leaders. I certainly wasn’t disappointed. And the real focal point of the day, the young people we sought to engage, didn’t let us down either!

This was a day to bring the subject of disabilities to the forefront for 85 third-grade students, with various people both from within and outside the school system adopting a disability for the morning and then explaining how their day was impacted by that disability.  Included in the experience for these “temporarily disabled” citizens was transportation to and from Herman Avenue Elementary School by Lee Brew and Donna Wilson in the Cayuga County SCAT Van.

Our Options staff, especially co-chairs Andrea Stratton and Felicia Thompson, functioned as a well-oiled machine in handling the many facets and details inherent in staging such an event. The teachers at Herman Elementary - Colleen Meir, Julianne Tabone, Michael Drogo and Michael Jones - each of whom adopted a disability for the morning, participated eagerly and provided real-time lessons for their students. Principal Cynthia Lattimore welcomed everyone, including many members of Options’ board of directors along with a photographer from The Citizen, Jill Connor."

The rest of this article can be read on the Auburn Citizen's website here.