Disabilities Awareness Day set for Friday

From: Boca Raton News, FL
Oct. 17, 2002

Published Thursday, October, 17, 2002
by Dale M. King

Not every event at the Boca Raton Community Center next to City Hall at 201 W. Palmetto Park Road is an eye-opener.

But Disabilities Awareness Day – the annual event sponsored by the city’s Advisory Board for the Physically and Mentally Challenged – is likely to do the job.
The event will give the non-disabled an opportunity to learn about disabilities and people who live with them every day.
The activity runs from 9 a.m. to noon at the center, and concludes with a luncheon at the Boca Raton Executive Country Club at 7601 E. County Club Blvd.
Inspirational speaker John Winters will offer a talk called “Get Out and Live.”
For weeks, the committee has devoted much of its first-Thursday-of-the-month meetings to planning Disabilities Awareness Day.

While disabled residents will be at the event, it is designed to give non-disabled people an understanding of what it is like to have a handicap.
Those who attend will also see how productive individuals with disabilities can be in the community.
People who don’t have to deal with disabilities all the time can learn Friday how buildings and other sites are made more accessible to and comfortable for all citizens.
Information about community services for the disabled will also be available.
As it did last year, Disabilities Awareness Day will have a special program to sensitize young people to disabilities. The program for younger children, called “Kids on the Block,” will take place about 10 a.m. Teenagers will take part in activities such as wheelchair basketball games.
Students in Palm Beach County public schools have the day off Friday for a staff planning day.
To open the event at 9, participants will use American Sign Language to “sing” the National Anthem.

If you go

Disabilities Awareness Day will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at the Boca Raton Community Center next to City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road. The event is free and open to the public. It concludes with a luncheon at the Boca Raton Executive Country Club, 7601 E. Country Club Blvd. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Call 367-7000. For information, call Aron Breslow, the public information person for the city’s Advisory Board for the Physically and Mentally Challenged, at 483-8093.

Copyright 2002 - Boca Raton News