09/24/2026
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♿ BOARD ACCOUNTABILITY: WHEN DISABLED MEMBERS REACH OUT, WILL LEADERS RESPOND? 🤔
Board members serve an important role — they're a channel members can turn to when an organization itself isn't responsive. That only works if the channel is open. 🔑
I'm the hearing-impaired 👂 YMCA of Central New York member behind this story. My original concerns were with the CEO — a non-voting role that serves at the board's discretion. As I understood the process at the time, that meant raising the issue with the board's voting members. So I reached out — not just to Iris St. Meran, but to more than two dozen board members in total, hoping someone could help. Not one responded. 📭 I wasn't asking for anything outside the process members are entitled to use — I was simply hoping to be heard, and instead I was met with silence from the entire board.
After more than a decade as a member, I made the difficult decision to end my relationship with the YMCA. 💔 In the years since, I've struggled to find another facility for the doctor-ordered physical therapy I once relied on there. That gap coincided with a decline in my health, and this past year I underwent an above-the-knee amputation. 🦽 I can't say what might have been different if my outreach had simply been acknowledged — but I never got that chance to find out.
This isn't about any one person — it's about what happens when the safeguards meant to protect members don't function as they should. ⚠️ Disabled community members deserve acknowledgment, accessible communication, and meaningful follow-through. Not silence. 🙏
🤝 Join us to stop the hate in New York State. 🗽
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