Impact Feature Issue on Social Inclusion Through Recreation for Persons with Disabilities

My name is Ben McClure. I’ve been to Camp Abilities twice before. I’ve had a fun time with the sports activities there. I’ve had the chance to do things there that I usually don’t get to do. Things like gymnastics, tandem biking, judo, swimming without a float, goal ball, and beep baseball. When I’m at Camp Abilities I feel good about what I am doing. The coaches and counselors are nice and encourage me to try new things and do my best. They are also fun to hang out with and play with.

Some of the things I’ve learned from Camp Abilities I can use at gym class now. Before I went to Camp Abilities, I didn’t go to gym. But Dr. Lieberman encouraged my mom to talk with my school so that I would participate in gym. She wrote a book about including kids with disabilities in all kinds of recreation. She even put me on the cover. My mom showed it to all my teachers and the adaptive PE teachers. Now, I’m enjoying all kinds of sports like lacrosse, basketball, flag football, and square dancing. In my last gym class, I learned all about how to check in lacrosse. After seeing how wildly I swing the lacrosse stick though, my lacrosse coach wasn’t sure I should check. I almost took his nose off!

I’m looking forward to Camp Abilities this year because it is an important influence for me and lots of other kids.