May 12, 2008 — It's Assembly Disability Awareness Day in Albany. Hundreds of people with disabilities will converge on the capitol to meet with their state representatives, and for seminars and lectures on a variety of disability issues. It's an annual pilgrimage, but the context changed when Gov. David Paterson took office in early March. Paterson is blind and a leader in disability issues during his career in state government. The North Country Center for Independence in Plattsburgh has chartered a bus for a local contingent. Executive Director Andrew Pulrang says many of the issues will be the same this year: state support for long-term care that allows people to live on their own, funding for the independent living centers that dot the state. But he told Martha Foley with Paterson in the governor's office, the climate seems warmer.