Making Camp Inclusive

When parents make the decision to send their child to camp, they have many options. They can opt for a day or sleep-away camp, outdoor adventure camp, sports camp, theater camp, religious camp and so on …  The possibilities multiply each year. If their child has a disability, they also have a choice to make when it comes to deciding whether to send their child to a “special” camp designed specifically for children with disabilities, an integrated camp that welcomes children with disabilities but groups them separately from their typically developing camp-mates, or an inclusive camp where campers of all abilities participate in all activities together.

In today’s blog post, we’ll “visit” Camp Chi, an inclusive overnight camp located in Lake Delton, Wisconsin. Camp Chi is affiliated with the JCC in Chicago, which also runs a variety of other camp programs.

For almost 20 years, Camp Chi has worked to integrate children with special needs into their camp program through its partnership with Keshet a nationally recognized provider of educational, recreational, vocational and social programs for individuals with disabilities. Yet until recently, there were limits to what they could provide.

In 2015, Camp Chi was selected as one of six camps to participate in the Ruderman/Alexander Inclusion Initiative. Thanks to the Inclusion Initiative, Camp Chi is now able to: “enroll more campers with disabilities, increase the length and variety of sessions offered, enhance staff training and focus more closely on social inclusion.”

Play Ball!

If it’s springtime it must be baseball season! For baseball-lovers young and old, a trip to the ballpark is one of the great joys of spring —especially when the home team wins! For young [and young at heart] baseball fans, playing the game can be equally joyful. According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, “participation in sports by children and adolescents is associated with a range of documented physical, emotional, social, educational and other benefits that can last into adulthood.”

But, all too often, youngsters with disabilities are left on the sidelines.

In recent years, a movement to make sports more inclusive has gained traction. Yet, despite good 

intentions, and modifications to the Americans With Disabilities Act in 2010, many recreational facilities, including ball fields, still don’t accommodate children with mobility challenges, visual impairment and other disabilities. Even when settings are completely accessible, children with disabilities may remain isolated because of the fears and misconceptions of typically developing peers. Fortunately, an organization called The Miracle League is changing that, one community at a time.

Making Summertime Special

For more than a century, North American summer camps have provided children and young adults with meaningful opportunities to immerse themselves in nature, develop life-long friendships, discover their strengths and talents, gain independence and engage in communal living.

According to the American Camp Association’s Case for Camp, “A quality camp experience provides our children with the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living — a meaningful, engaged, and participatory environment.”

For children with special needs, who are all too often stuck on the sidelines, a summer camp experience can have an even more profound effect.  Today, there are so many different ways to take advantage of all that camp has to offer. No matter what your child’s disability, whether you choose a day camp, or sleep-away camp, an inclusive camp, where children with disabilities play alongside typically developing peers, a family camp, a religious camp or a specialty camp focusing on sports, arts, academics or computers, there is truly something for everyone.

But how can you tell if your child with special needs is prepared for a summer camping experience? How do you go about finding the appropriate setting? Will your child be safe?

We went directly to the source—The American Camp Association—to ask these questions. Here’s what we learned:

Happy Mothers Day to the Caregivers Among Us!

Whether you’re a mother, a teacher or a therapist, much of your time is spent attending to the needs of others. Caregiving is always challenging, but when the child or children you care for have severe disabilities, your caregiving responsibilities are especially demanding.

Caregiving can take quite a toll on people who care for family members. 

According to statistics collected by the Caregiver Action Network:

·      More than 65 million people, 29% of the U.S. population, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year and spend an average of 20 hours per week providing care for their loved one.

·      Approximately 66% of family caregivers are women. More than 37% have children or grandchildren under 18 years old living with them.

Enabling Devices’ Book Shelf

As National Autism Awareness Month 2016 comes to a close, we’ve taken a look back at some of the best books on topics related to autism, published during the past year. These fascinating and inspiring reads, for adults, teens and children should keep you busy for many months to come.

For Adults

“Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity” by Steve Silberman

In this exhaustive and compassionately written history of autism, Silberman calls into question many of our assumptions about autism and the modern “autism epidemic.” “Neurotribes” takes the reader on a journey that begins at the infancy of autism research, through early treatments and theories about the condition’s etiology, to the work of psychiatrists, Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger, to modern-day battles within the autism community and the current movement to embrace neuro-diversity.  Don’t miss the foreword by the late Oliver Sachs.

“Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening” by John Elder Robison

This new memoir by a man with autism tells the true story of how engineer, John Elder Robison’s life changed after his participation in a 6-month brain therapy experiment with transcranial magnetic stimulation. TMS, a noninvasive technique currently approved for patients with medication-resistant depression, uses electric currents to activate and deactivate particular circuits in the brain. The treatments Robison received, targeted his frontal lobe, enabling him to experience empathy for the first time in his life. Robison’s revelations, the science informing TMS and what it teaches about the plasticity of the brain is nothing less than mind-blowing.

Getting In Sync for National Autism Awareness Month

When it was first published in 1998, “The Out-of-Sync Child,” by former preschool educator, author and speaker, Carol Stock Kranowitz, was a revelation for many parents, teachers and therapists. The book explained so much about why some children reacted so differently than others to the same situations, experiences and activities. These children, many of whom were on the autism spectrum, had a disability called sensory processing disorder, wrote Kranowitz. Although SPD was not a new phenomenon – it was formerly known as sensory integration dysfunction—until the publication of “The Out-of-Sync Child,” it was not well recognized outside of the occupational therapy world.

Today, we understand that children with SPD react the way they do because their nervous systems aren’t functioning optimally. These children may be overly sensitive to touch, tastes, smells, pain, temperature and sound. Additionally, some crave sensory stimulation though deep touch and roughhousing, jumping, swinging and twirling. Sometimes, sensory sensitivities make it difficult for children to enjoy themselves. Yet, with the help of an occupational therapist who can prescribe appropriate activities and modifications, children with SPD can overcome many of these challenges.

Stressed Out By Vacation Planning? A New App Is Making Travel Accessible To All

With spring break in the rear view window, many of us are turning our attentions to summer vacation planning. Although planning a family trip can be fun, it does have its challenges. After all, coming up with a destination and itinerary that suits each family member while also adhering to a timeframe and budget is no small feat. The task can seem even more daunting when one vacationer requires special accommodations because of a disability.

English entrepreneur, Srin Madipalli, who has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and uses a motorized wheelchair, discovered this first hand in 2010, when he took six months away from his job at a law-firm to travel. Madipalli found the experience “eye-opening.”

“It was extremely difficult to find information on adapted accommodation and transport. A lot of times it involved hours of searching online, taking a major risk and hoping for the best. While I enjoyed the challenge, it also felt very frustrating and I'd often just like the planning to be easy!” 

While traveling, Madipalli reached the conclusion that technology could offer solutions for the frustrations faced by him and other travelers with disabilities.

“Such systems have revolutionized travel for other customer sectors, [think: airbnb], so why not for the accessible travel market?” he wondered.

When he returned to the UK, Madipalli and his childhood friend, Martyn Sibley, an avid traveler who also has SMA, co-founded an online magazine called Disability Horizons. The publication covers a variety of topics including employment, entertainment, relationships, technology, news and travel. Through the magazine’s online community, Madipalli and Sibley learned that others were also concerned about the lack of travel resources for those with disabilities. Always up for a challenge, they decided to see what they could do to change the status quo.