ORANGEBURG, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — When sports media students had to make a video for their master's thesis, Ryan Lacker decided to take a different approach.
The 24-year-old profiled Will Fox, his dear friend from Tappan Zee High School, who is on the autism spectrum, which made connecting with people difficult when he was younger.
"From the time that I've known him, that's never been an issue," Lacker said. "He's such an outgoing personality, with such a warm, kind, caring, genuine heart."
Lacker said Fox is able to connect with every person he meets.
"Every person who he comes across, he meets him with a smile and meets him with a high five," he added. "He gets to know them and he doesn't get to know them just for the sake of knowing them and making conversation. He will remember the smallest details about your life after just one meeting with him."
In his video, "Everybody Knows Will Fox," Lacker tells the story of how his friend became his high school's premier sports photographer.
"My favorites are capturing touchdowns, ridiculous football catches, in other words, a one-handed catch or helmet catch," Fox says in the video.
Lacker said he hopes the video helps his friend realize his dream.
"What it started out as was just a good grade and a good film and something to feel good about," he added. "But what it turned into was me genuinely trying to help him kind of find his way in the world."
Fox now has an offer to photograph a hip hop album release and Lacker said he hopes that's just the beginning.
"He is a normal person, and I think we should look at people with disabilities as normal people more often," Lacker said.
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