Scouting is a Safe Haven For All
Outside the swimming pool, a crowd grows. Scouts squeeze in, some standing on tiptoes to see what the fuss is about.
Inside the fence, Willie Deuster keeps swimming. He’s the remaining participant in the mile swim — a summer camp tradition at Beaumont Scout Reservation in Missouri. The swim tests the endurance of body and mind, and as Willie slowly tallies lap after lap, his cheering section has a collective realization: There’s no stopping this guy.
It’s not the fact that the others finished their mile two hours ago. Or that it’s getting close to dinnertime. And it’s certainly not that Willie has athetoid cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.
Willie’s story is hardly unique. In unit meetings and summer camps across the country, Scouts like Willie encounter a welcoming environment where they’re Scouts first and Scouts with special needs second.
In this country, young men and women who have special needs or disabilities are often segregated. There are extracurricular activities just for them. They’re placed in separate classes at school and on special sports teams.
Not so in Scouting. Scouts with special needs are placed in dens and patrols with everyone else — a practice called “mainstreaming.”
“Scouting is probably the one place where a youth who has a disability can be treated as one of the boys without any label attached,” says Tony Mei, a Scouter from Novato, Calif., and chairman of the BSA’s National Disabilities Awareness Committee. “The Scouting program is structured in such a way that a youth who has a disability can achieve — and be accommodated where appropriate.”
As many as 15 percent of Scouts have a disability or a special need — some physical, but most involving cognitive, behavioral or learning disabilities. So there could be several such Scouts in your pack, troop, team or crew.
Parental Guidance Suggested
Hunter has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD. One evening, he starts picking on his sister. His mother tells him to leave her alone. He starts banging on the piano. His mother tells him to go to his room. He throws stuffed animals into the hall. Again, his mother tells him to stop.
“You tell me all these things I can’t do,” Hunter says. “But what can I do?”
It’s a light-bulb moment for Mom. From then on, she gives positive direction instead of negative, and their relationship improves dramatically.
Jane Grossman, a Scouter from St. Louis who is vice chairman of the National Disabilities Awareness Committee, says she had her own light-bulb moment when she heard a psychologist tell that story.
“Behavior is a form of communication,” she says. “Look at what the behavior is trying to say, and address the problem that is causing the behavior, not necessarily the behavior itself. Look for a positive way to redirect the Scout by letting him know what he can or should be doing.”
Rick Smith of Hastings, Minn., edits the Disabilities Awareness Committee’s quarterly newsletter, Abilities Digest. He says parents, Scout leaders and the Scout himself should have an open discussion before the young person joins the unit.
They should discuss any necessary physical accommodations, as well as prescribed medications and a plan for administering them. But they also should talk about stuff you can’t summarize in a doctor’s note, like advice about the activities or environments the Scout might require to relieve stress and remain in control.
“The troop doesn’t need — and can’t use — detailed medical reports about Scouts,” Smith says. “They need the parent’s practical insight to help manage day-to-day behavior.”
A Scout Is Kind
Back at the pool, Willie is still going strong. So is the crowd, which has grown in size and hasn’t stopped cheering.
Willie’s support team includes a rotation of buddies who join him for a few laps. The Scouts have each other’s backs. Sometimes that means helping a fellow Scout with physical disabilities to climb a mountain or swim a mile. Sometimes that means being there for a Scout with mental disabilities as he earns a merit badge or completes a service project.
The cool part is, the Scout with special needs isn’t the only one who benefits.
“It is a two-way street when youth with disabilities are included in the unit,” Mei says. “Often the benefit is even greater for the other Scouts because it gives them a first-hand appreciation of what the Scout with a disability can do.”
In its effort to mainstream Scouts with special needs, the BSA allows these Scouts to advance using requirements and a pace that most benefit them.
This can include allowing Scouts to remain in the program beyond the age of eligibility, complete merit badges using accommodations and even earn the Eagle Scout award after age 18. Willie, for example, was 20 when he attempted to swim a mile.
The process for using accommodations is straightforward, and your council can help. Start by reviewing Section 10 of the Guide to Advancement at bit.ly/GuidetoAdvancement
Mei’s favorite example of this is when a Scout who is blind told him he had earned the Astronomy merit badge. Mei was curious, and he asked how the young man completed requirement 4A: Identify at least 10 constellations in the sky.
“His merit badge counselor punched holes in paper plates and held them over his head outside at night, in the right place for the night sky,” Mei says. “The Scout used his hands to feel and identify the constellations.”
Not only is that a perfectly acceptable way to adapt the merit badge requirement, but it’s also kind of genius.
“We need to be creative in ways to help the Scouts be successful,” Mei says.
Listen and Learn
You talked to the Scout’s parents. You read the BSA’s Guide to Working With Scouts With Special Needs and DisABILITIES (available for free at bit.ly/SpecialNeedsScouting).
You attended sessions at your council’s University of Scouting.
That’s all great, but the most underrated resource for strengthening the way your unit accommodates Scouts with special needs, Grossman says, is by asking the Scouts themselves.
“If help is wanted, let them tell you how to help,” she says. “Most want to — and can — do a lot more for themselves than the untrained person realizes. Never let them use their disability as an excuse. Never do for them what they can do for themselves.”
When at last Willie finishes his mile swim — having covered 1,750 yards in 3 hours and 10 minutes — a cheer erupts.
He’s a Scout being celebrated for what he can do instead of what he cannot.
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