Working With The Disabled Does Not Make Me “Amazing”

4 Things I Wish I Knew Before Working at an Inclusive Summer Camp.

“You’re so patient.” “I could never do that.” “The world needs more people like you!” “You’re amazing.”

Statements like these have become a commonality in my life. From the first experience I had working in the disability sector, to now, seven years later, still pursuing a career in the field. When I first heard people boast about my work, my ego burst beyond belief, and I started to believe that my own work as an inclusion counsellor was an above-average, and commendable position. The approval and praise of other people motivated me to believe that the work I was doing was extraordinary. However, what I did not see coming was the fact that my own self-absorption, which was initiated by statements like these, was further separating able-bodied people from those with disabilities. Without my knowledge, I was “including” children with disabilities into summer camp in the most segregated and exclusive way possible.

By making statements like the ones above, we are further pushing the "individual model" of disability (which insinuates that issues surrounding people with disabilities like inclusion are up to people with disabilities to solve, and not "our problem") while also creating a more ableist society. Statements like those imply that people with disabilities are nothing more than “other” and it is mindsets that are rooted in those statements that promote institutionalization and segregation of people with disabilities.

It is no surprise that this outlook is still very common today. (Specifically in the recreational summer camp field.) However, if there is one thing I’ve learned from continuing to work and study “care work”, it’s that changing your mindset takes one simple step: education.

4 Things I Wish I Knew Before Working at an Inclusive Summer camp.

1. It’s not about me.

When I first started my position as an inclusion counsellor, I was bombarded with information about the people I would be supporting. This information included the behaviours they experience, how independent they were, what to expect with transitions and much more. The weeks that were labeled by the staff around me as “better weeks” were ones in which the participant had more independence, and were “easier” for me to work with. In other words, I was told that the less the participant inconvenienced me, the better.

How dangerous of a mindset is this? The job position became about avoiding my responsibility and duty to provide a better experience for the participant, and more about my own self.

It is important to realize that your job is not about cutting corners, short cuts or timesavers. Your job is about insuring a positive experience for the individual, which in turn often results in a positive outlook for everyone, and can break down the stereotypes that people have about people with disabilities being burdensome, intimidating and “other”.

2. Disability does not equate to less capability.

Adapting activities were often seen as optional at camp. If an activity was not obviously adaptable, then my efforts to adapt were not often taken by myself or others around me. Things like the temporal environment, physical environment, psychosocial environment, participant variables, general information variables, task or activity variables and finally the object or equipment. (Professor J. Leo, Experiencing Camp & Structuring the Environment, September 19th, 2016) Adapting activities is much more than a wheelchair accessible belaying system on a high ropes course, or accessible beaches and pools. Accessibility is about realizing that the only barrier to inclusion is our own able-bodied mindsets about the limitations that people with disabilities have. Once we allow that mindset to be forefront in our minds, we in turn allow social acceptance. Through social contact in inclusive settings, individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to demonstrate valued abilities and personality characteristics, and thereby gain social acceptance. (Devine & Parr, 2008, p. 392) If we allow people with disabilities autonomy and a voice, we are able to see how capable they are, and how incapable we made them out to be.

3. Camp is not just respite for parents.

If we carry the outlook that somehow our job is just to provide a break for the families or caregivers of the participants we imply that there is no real goal of our work other than keeping them away from their homes for a long enough time to benefit the parents. When we, as counsellors, have this mentality, we are further classifying people with disabilities as burdensome or undesirable and not seeing their potential as a skillful and talented individual.

Once this is realized, we are able as counsellors to produce positive contact between all campers and staff. Positive contact happens when individuals with disabilities have opportunities to exercise choice and autonomy, active participation and empowerment is fostered and goals can be attained. (Devine & Parr, 2008, p. 393) If we practice these three concepts than the purpose of the stay at camp will be much more than just providing a break for the parents, and more about breaking the stereotypes that people without disabilities have towards those with disabilities.

4. The goal is inclusion, not normalcy.

This is one of the most important things I wish I knew before working at summer camp. I found myself learning more and more about agency and autonomy of people with disabilities, but forgetting the goal of inclusion. My personal goal was to make sure that the participant I was working with felt as “normal” as they could. (Assuming “normal” meant able-bodied) I seemed to forget that by assuming the people I worked with wanted to be normal meant that they were in need of being changed and fixed. Mindsets like this do not allow us to create safe spaces for people with disabilities to be their whole selves, including their disabilities, not in spite of them. (Whatley, 2008) We must also ensure that contact between people with and without disabilities is structured, rights are respected, reciprocity occurred, and leisure interests are shared. This will inevitably yield positive attitudes of individuals without disabilities toward those with disabilities (Devine & Parr, 2008, p. 392)

By practicing the goal of inclusion within the summer camp, we as counsellors are able to show inclusion as possible in our day-to-day lives, not only in the context of summer camp. The benefits of this are that people with disabilities are no longer seen as separate from people without disabilities, but we are able to see them as active, autonomous and independent individuals.

My work as a summer camp counsellor was not “amazing” by any means. My job, as I’ve learned, is to break down and change societies ideas that people with disabilities are burdensome, different, and are in need of being normalized. Simply changing our mindsets can change the lives of people with disabilities, and that is truly the only “amazing” thing we can do.





References

Devine, M. A., & Parr, M. G. (2008). “Come on in, but not too Far:” Social Capital in an Inclusive Leisure Setting. Leisure Sciences, 30(5), 391-408. doi:10.1080/01490400802353083

Leo, J. (2016, September/October). Experiencing Camp & Structuring the Environment. Lecture presented in Kings University College, London Ontario.

Whaley, K. (2015, January 10). Chasing "Normal": My Summers at a Camp for Disabled Kids - The Toast. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://the-toast.net/2015/11/10/chasing-normal-camp-for-disabled-kids/