Ability Awareness Day - summer day camp disability-education program

Parks & Recreation, May, 1996 by T.J. Sayne

To the average person strolling through Harrer Park in the Chicago suburb of Morton Grove last July, the children's activities going on may have seemed rather unusual. After all, what would drive perfectly healthy, non-disabled, young boys and girls to partake in recreational activities such as wheelchair basketball, blindfold baseball and chin-ramp bowling?

Why would Ed, who doesn't even wear prescription glasses, be writing his name in Braille? And, why would Lindsey, whose first grade teacher would be the first to tell you, has no problems talking, be practicing sign language?

"It's simple," explains nine-year-old Lindsey, as she eagerly walks with her friends to the next ability station. "This is a way to learn about people who have different abilities than us; it's hard to know what people go through unless you try it yourself."

That's one of the many different themes that make up the Morton GROVE/M-NASR Ability Awareness Day, now approaching its third year. The event gathers over 180 children from the Morton Grove Park District's Summer Day Camps. Every 20 minutes or so, the sound of a whistle alerts small groups of children that it is time to switch to one of the eight different ability stations. At each ability station, children participate in a lesson about a specific disability. Then, the children are allowed a few minutes for discussion and questions.

Organizers hope that this type of learning atmosphere will make the children more aware of and sensitive to the challenges of others in their community. To Gary Balling, administrative manager of the Morton Grove Park District, it's an eye-opening experience. "It gives you a wonderful feeling inside, seeing the Park District using its resources this way," Balling says. "The accessible park facilities and park grounds staff creating enjoyment, ability awareness and education for the children of Morton Grove."

The original Ability Awareness Day idea came to Balling in 1993 while he was attending an event held by the Northeast DuPage Special Recreation Association. At the event, Balling witnessed Girl Scouts visiting different organized stations that concentrated on a specific disability.

Back at his office in Morton Grove, Balling placed a call to the Maine-Niles Association of Special Recreation (M-NASR), an extension of the Morton Grove Park District, which provides recreation and leisure programming for physically and mentally challenged children, teens and adults.

Gary Koenig, M-NASR executive director, remembers the conversation well. "Gary (Balling) wanted to put an Ability Awareness Day together. M-NASR had done this kind of thing on a smaller scale like in school classrooms, but never to the amount of children Gary had discussed. I thought it was a great opportunity."

Soon after, the Morton Grove Park District and M-NASR combined their staff and ideas. Less than a year later, the First Annual Morton Grove/ M-NASR Ability Awareness Day was being held. The success of the event was immediate. Before long, interest spread to other area park districts.

"We were impressed with the idea after hearing about it from Gary (Koenig)," said Steve Hartman, director of the Skokie Park District. "We had the resources and staff and decided to put one on ourselves, it ended up being a great decision." The Skokie/M-NASR Ability Awareness Day was also a large success with over 900 summer day camp children participating in 40 different ability stations.

"Putting this kind of event together is a lot of hard work," says Glen Barklow, integration specialist for M-NASR, "The goal is to make each of the ability stations as real as possible, but just as importantly, we try to make them fun learning experiences."

Ten-year-old Marianne says it definitely seems to be working, "I have a younger brother who has been diagnosed with CP (Cerebral Palsy)," said Marianne. This helps me to understand a little better some of the things he's going through at home."

According to Deb Caruthers, superintendent of recreation for M-NASR, stories like Marianne's are becoming more and more popular. "In the past, these children may not have fully understood the challenges of their relatives or family friends. But now," says Caruthers, "experiencing those challenges first hand, helps them to understand and then apply what they have learned."

The scenes at the park are quite impressive. Countless little heads tilted to the side, eyes and mouths wide open as they listen to Mike, 17, who uses a wheelchair. Mike shows them how his black Labrador, Barry, can pick up his keys and grab money off of the counter. Or, as they watch how Stephanie, 28, who also uses a wheelchair, can use a special piece of equipment to go downhill skiing.

Stephanie's only interruption came from a young boy who blurted out, "How fast can you go in that?" "Fast enough," replied Stephanie.