Most kids haul a duffle and a sleeping bag to summer camp. But if you have to take a wheelchair too - camp becomes a much bigger challenge.
At Camp Awakening near Minden, lots of kids are meeting that challenge.
“At camp there are no boundaries and that's what I love about it,” says George Alevizos
George has been going to camp for seven years. He's been rock climbing and canoeing, and his wheelchair doesn't hold him back one bit.
“They try to make you participate in basically all the different activities that they have, and just because you are in a wheelchair doesn't mean anything,” he says. “You're still going to do it no matter what.”
Camp Awakening is a special camp for kids with physical challenges. It runs sessions within bigger camps including Kilcoo just outside Minden. The boys come here. Girls have a similar camp near Kingston.
“We have campers with a wide range of physical disabilities such a cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and hydrocephalus,” says Tracy Morley, executive director at Camp Awakening. “We have campers with muscular dystrophy and amputees. There is actually a longer list, but any kids that are impacted with mobility.
“We're doing everything that our able-bodied peers are doing, just at our own pace and at our own level of ability.”
Pushing the boundaries is what this camp is all about.
“For most of us camp is like a second home and you get to do whatever you couldn't at home,” says Nicholas Place. Like “making a fire, for example. I haven't been able to do that back home.”
Max Setka, who is from Toronto and is going into Grade 11 next year, is in his seventh year at the camp.
“My first year I could never get to the top of the rock climbing wall that we have,” Max says. “I got halfway up, looked down and started balling my eyes out. About two years ago I got to the top and that was a big success for me.”
Finding ways to integrate is part of the culture. This week they had a wheelchair basketball tournament for everyone to try. At Kilcoo, the Awakening boys are treated just like all the other campers.
“What I like best about them is that no one ever asks for any sympathy, no one ever expects to be treated any differently,” says Dave Latimer, camp director at Kilcoo.”And what they teach me and what they teach the kids at Kilcoo is that they are just one of us.”
At the end of the day, it's all about creating relationships that last a lifetime.
“The people here are really nice,” says Chris Cowles. “The counselors here are fun to hang out with and it's a really nice place.”
About 70 campers will go to this camp this summer. While Camp Awakening has been around since 1982, it's just recently that other camps have been looking at copying this program and making their programs more accessible for kids with special needs.
