Being in a special Health Careers Academy college program allowed me the opportunity to go out on clinical rotations across the city and have classes off campus in the New York State School for the Blind, a facility full of children with some degree of serious visual impairment and numerous other disabilities.
The Blind School was not only a place for these kids, ranging ages 5-21, to get their own unique form of education, but a place where many of them lived 5-7 days of the week.
The NYSSB graciously allowed us a classroom within their facility to learn many of the days of the week, which allowed for me to get to view these children in passing and become an observer to their unique environment.
Right off the bat, even through just quick passes by in the halls, these kids were the sweetest! They always wanted to say hi to you, ask you about your day, or figure out whoever was walking by them since they in some cases could not see us at all.
As weeks went by, opportunities for these kids to come into our classroom and work with us appeared, and I found myself knee-deep in crafts, playing their song requests, and having many dance parties. It was then, I absolutely just fell in love.
When it came clinical time, I took as many days doing Occupational Therapy work in the Blind School as I could, and it was there I got to meet so many more of these beautiful humans.
They are easily the most beautiful humans I have ever met. They taught me so much about life and even helped me find direction in what I wanted to do career wise.
No matter what circumstances they had, they were always smiling, cheery, and a pleasure to be around. They made me realize that I had to be more grateful for what I had, and that even when things were difficult I should try and stay positive.
They were so incredibly intelligent and talented, impressing me in ways I sometimes could not fathom. I found myself in awe of them overcoming their situation and finding ways to do things that even I myself could not do. They are the most hardworking, resilient, determined people I have ever seen.
On the hardest days of the year, they brought me so much joy and just filled my heart with a calling to help them in any way I could. They were always making me laugh, teaching me new things, or melting my heart at the littlest things like calling me “Miss Audney”.
Occupational therapy is my dream in life, and as I accomplish this dream I will always remember the sweetest kids ever that got me there not only through their personal motivation, but through the feeling that helping them originally gave me at 17 years old.
Again, they are truly the most beautiful people in the world to me. To know them is to love them. I wish everyone could see these kids, and I cannot wait to revisit them all this summer.