The Council Chambers at Fishers City Hall were nearly full Friday morning as the city kicked off the month of March, Disability Awareness Month.  Cecilia Coble and Stacey Oldham, co-chairs of the Fishers Advisory Committee on Disability, handled the welcoming duties for the kick-off celebration.

There were two keynote speakers this year – Noah Malone and Jordan Dickey.

Noah is a junior at HSE High School and is a star runner on the track team.  He contracted a medical condition that has severely limited his eyesight.  That hasn’t stopped Noah from continuing his athletic career and he is still a standout performer on the track squad.

Jordan has a severe disability that confines him to a wheelchair, but that hasn’t stopped Jordan from being a wheelchair soccer player for 15 years.  Jordan received a college degree and an MBA.  He did an internship with a local marketing company Statwax.  Jordan illustrated for the company what he could do in crunching data and is now a valued full-time employee for Statwax.

Mayor Scott Fadness asked each of the keynote speakers what bothers them the most about how others deal with them, and both said they just want their fellow students and coworkers to treat them like anybody else in school or in the work place.

The Advisory Committee on Disability awarded the Life Without Limits Award to Conner Prairie for the nonprofit group’s work with the disability community.  The award was accepted by Conner Prairie’s Human Resources Director Shelby Slowik.

The bottom line message from the kickoff event was this – if given the proper tools and support, those with disabilities can be major contributors to society.

I recorded a podcast with Jordan Dickey, Stacey Oldham and Cecilia Coble about this year’s Disability Awareness Month activities during March in Fishers….you can listen to that podcast at this link.

Shelby Slowik accepts the Life Without Limits Award on behalf of Conner Prairie (standing at her left, Fishers City Councilwoman Cecilia Coble)