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From: moth@dartmouth.edu (Tom Leathrum)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Summer Camps
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Date: 10 Dec 90 03:47:31 GMT
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Index Number: 12426

In Article 12052 of misc.handicap, Carla Campbell
(Carla.Campbell@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org) writes:
>I was approached
>by one participant who asked me if I knew of summer camps for disabled
>kids.

I used to work at a camp for mentally handicapped people in South
Carolina, called Camp Hope.  On the same grounds there was another
camp, Camp Sertoma, that ran sessions for blind children and for
speech and hearing impaired children.

I have two recommendations for places to look for information on
camps for disabled:  1) the American Camping Association -- have no
idea of an address for them, but they're big, and they accredit
camps around the country (the camps where I worked got their
accreditation one of the years I was there); and 2) any of the
charitable organizations that might sponsor such things -- e.g.
(from where I worked) the Jaycees sponsored Camp Hope, the Lions
Club sponsored Camp Lions Den (the session in Sertoma for blind
kids), the Sertomans sponsored everything else in Sertoma, and the
Knights of Columbus had a sort of scholarship program for the
camps.

Of course, the national organizations of/for people with whatever
disability(ies) you have in mind will be of some help, but don't
expect too much -- e.g. the ARC pretty much ignored Camp Hope, but
on the other hand Camp Running Brave (a session on Camp Hope
grounds for kids with hemophilia) was sponsored and run entirely by
the South Carolina chapter of the National Hemophilia Association.

A couple of other vague hunches that might work out:  ask someone
in your State University system (the camps where I worked were
officially part of Clemson University's Outdoor Laboratory, run by
the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program of the
Forestry Department), or else in 4-H (Camp Hope used to be run on
4-H campgrounds, long before my time) or some other extension
organization.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Tom Leathrum
moth@dartmouth.edu