Inclusion For All™

Dedicated to including ALL people with special needs™

The Camp-For-All™ Information Center

The complete resource to help parents and professionals include ALL kids in summer camp

Reprinted with Permission from Kids Included Together (KIT), 3377 Carmel Mountain Rd., 2^nd Fl. San Diego, CA 92121

Letter From Michelle (7 year old sister of a child with special needs)

Hello, my name is Michelle and I am 7 years old and I want to tell you a little bit about my life. I have a brother, his name is Jonathan. He is 10 years old. My brother has a disability. Some people laugh at my brother. One time I went to a park with my mom and brother and we saw a couple of kids and they were playing tag. My brother doesn’t like to be tagged and well, he did get tagged. So I had to go and explain and this is how I explained it and at first they didn’t understand and so I had to explain it in a different way. So I said when my brother was born he had a problem with his brain and this is where it all began. My brother has autism. I still love my brother. They said, “well why doesn’t he like to be tagged?” And I said because it is hard for him to understand why you want to tag. He likes to run back and forth a lot but he doesn’t run as fast as others or the same as some other people. I said also he is the same as you because isn’t he a person? I said this and they all said yes. Well that is one way he’s the same and I put one finger up. He has lots of feelings just like all of you do – that is the second thing and I put up two fingers. The third way Jonathan is the same is that he is part of a family. And there are many more ways he is the same so can you please understand? What if you were my brother? Would you like being laughed at because I wouldn’t. And that is what I do – I protect him from rudeness coming out of kids who don’t understand disabilities and they just blurt things out. I see a lot of other people who have disabilities and kids who don’t. Some other camps wouldn’t include him and that is just absurd because they just need aides and others to understand them. There is even a counselor who has a disability and that’s good because he wants to have fun, too. Sometimes Jonathan yells or pushes or doesn’t say I’m sorry or noises hurt him. Sometimes I’m embarrassed but I still love him and want him to be able to have fun at camp. My brother also has good things to help us because at Disneyland he gets a pass and we don’t have to wait on line and that is really rad & stupendous. If they didn’t let him go to camp with me then I would cry because he has more love and feelings than you think he does. Also all the other kids get to have their brothers and sisters go to the same camp so I should too.

Michelle

Kids Included Together (KIT) is a non-profit organization that helps support youth service organizations

that make a commitment to include children with disabilities into their existing recreational and social programs.

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