Options annual Disability Awareness Day (DAD) has had great success over the last 15 years helping to enlighten community members about the challenges faced by people with disabilities. However, the key to changing attitudes in our society is to open the eyes of young people.

This column highlights the experiences of students who adopted a disability for the morning of DAD.

• Ashley Ball is a student at Port Byron High School. For the morning she assumed a vision disability to simulate glaucoma. Special glasses obscured vision so she could not see directly in front of her and blurred her peripheral vision.

Her disability made it impossible to do ordinary things like open her locker and walk up stairs.

She could not see as well as she was accustomed, but Ashley became aware of the way her classmates were staring at her. The awkwardness she felt as her disability became a center of attention really surprised her.

• Jocelyn Emilio is a student at Port Byron High School, and for DAD she spent the morning confined to a wheel-chair. As an active member of the student body, and an actress in an upcoming student play, her condition raised a panic among her classmates.

“They were worried I wouldn't be able to go on stage,” Jocelyn said.

The experience helped her understand some of the opportunities people with disabilities are denied.

• Zach Cuipylo is a student at Union Springs High School. For the morning of DAD, he assumed an aging disability. He donned leg weights, special goggles and ear plugs to experience his disability.

The morning was a challenge for him, particularly when it came to navigating stairs. His heavy legs caused him to trip repeatedly. But even more surprising to him was how willing people were to yell at him for not going fast enough.

“The most important thing I learned was how important it is to help others,” Zach said.

• Matt Mellini is a senior at Mynderse Academy in Seneca Falls. For DAD, he wore ear plugs and glasses to simulate hearing and vision disabilities.

Matt joked that this left him tripping more than normal, but on a more serious note, he reflected on his mother's career working in a nursing home. He spent the morning struggling to see and hear his classmates, and gained insight into the challenges his mother encounters each day with residents.

“I will never take my hearing and seeing for granted again,” Matt said.

• Jim Wilkerson is a student at Mynderse Academy. His participation in DAD was simulated blindness in one eye.

Jim was surprised by the amount of depth perception he lost by having one eye covered. He remarked that it would have been impossible to play baseball or basketball. But what surprised him was how much this loss of vision affected his daily interactions.

“It was hard to talk to somebody on the blind side,” he said. “I had to keep turning to see things.”

• Sarah Hryzak is a student at Mynderse Academy, and for DAD she was confined to a wheelchair.

She found that her new perspective from the wheelchair left her with many problems. She had difficulty retrieving things from her locker, getting through doors, and fighting off arm fatigue from wheeling herself around.

But the biggest barrier was time.

“I would have to rush from one class to another because it took so much longer to get around,” Sarah said. “I will definitely not take my mobility for granted again.”

Collin M. Sullivan is ADA/access advocate for Options for Independence