Source: Foundation for Jewish Camp
Thanks to the new Inclusion Training Guide for Jewish Summer Camps, a co-branded project of the Ramah Camping Movement and the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), navigating real-life situations likely to arise at camp just got easier. The guide became available in May 2015, 2015 – in time for the upcoming camping season – for use by everyone in the camping world and beyond.
Whether you are a camp director, inclusion specialist, director of a disabilities camping program, counselor, or activity specialist, there is something here for you! We see this project growing and expanding over time.
This first version offers basic information on:
- the history of disabilities camping
- models of camping for people with disabilities
- benefits of camping for both campers with disabilities and the typical camp community
- overviews of various disabilities
- useful tools for day to day work with campers
We have created this online resource guide to share information and resources which will help you feel more confident in your work with children with disabilities.
- Camp directors may want to take a look at sections pertaining to inclusive camping for people with disabilities, successful inclusion in Jewish summer camp, inclusive camps, specific disabilities and related activities, communicating with parents, staff training, and people first language.
- Inclusion Coordinators will find it particularly useful to access certain materials like intake forms, people first language and general information on inclusive camping before the summer, while other materials like staff training (role-plays, sensitivity activities, values based on Jewish texts, and people first language) may be useful while camp is in session.
- Counselors, division heads, inclusion coordinators, program directors and camper care teams may find such tools as social stories, visual schedules, and tips on managing camper behavior, and speaking to the bunk about inclusion and disabilities to be particularly useful.
FJC is grateful for the generous support of UJA-Federation of New York – Neshamot Fund, and our partner, The Ramah Camping Movement on development of this Guide. Through the collaborative efforts of Lisa Tobin, Director of the Disabilities Initiatives at the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) and Howard Blas, Director of the National Ramah Tikvah Network, this co-branded resource has emerged. In an effort to get useful training material in the hands of camp personnel in time for the 2015 camp season, Lisa and Howard, their teams at FJC and Ramah, and many helpful colleagues in the disabilities camping field have worked tirelessly to collect, organize, and bring online the many useful resources in this guide.
Download the guide here.