Posted 3:07 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016
UWL education launches alumna on a path to help kids with disabilities children with visual impiarments
Strong. Fearless. Loveable. These are three words 10-year-old Braden Wingrove uses to describe himself to journalist Soledad O’Brien. He’s one of several kids campers featured in an HBO Special on “Camp Abilities.”
UWL alumna Lauren Lieberman started Camp Abilities over 20 years ago. The camp allows children who are visually impaired or blind to participate in a variety of sports and recreational activities, including gymnastics, baseball and kayaking.
“They feel normal,” says Lieberman. “If you’ve never met another child like you, you wouldn’t feel normal.”
Lieberman, a distinguished service professor, started the camp at The College at Brockport in New York after working for several years at The Perkins School for the Blind. She wanted to make sure her students, future teachers, would be ready to teach all who set foot in their gymnasiums including children with visual impairments.
Over 25 similar camps have been created around the world in the past 15 years. “Brockport has been supportive, but it all started at UW-La Crosse,” says Lieberman. “We ran programs exactly like the ones at Camp Abilities. I learned all the skills to make this happen at UWL.”
Beyond giving hundreds of children the chance to prove their athleticism, the program is also moving research forward. When Lieberman started the camp, the most recent research was about a decade old. “Now we bring children with visual impairments in one place and we can assess motor skills, get their opinions, talk to parents and learn about their physical education experiences,” she says.
Lieberman is on the forefront of the research, publishing dozens or articles and books on the topic — particularly focusing on children with visual impairment and inclusion. Recently, she won an Access Award from the American Foundation for the Blind for starting Camp Abilities.
“The community now sees children who are blind doing judo, running, and biking, instead of as non-athletes,” notes Lieberman. “The U.S. is doing a good job training people with visual impairments because of things like Camp Abilities.”
For more information on Camp Abilities, or to support its efforts, visit http://www.campabilities.org.
UWL alumna Lauren Lieberman started Camp Abilities over 20 years ago. The camp allows children who are visually impaired or blind to participate in a variety of sports and recreational activities, including gymnastics, baseball and kayaking.
“They feel normal,” says Lieberman. “If you’ve never met another child like you, you wouldn’t feel normal.”
Lieberman, a distinguished service professor, started the camp at The College at Brockport in New York after working for several years at The Perkins School for the Blind. She wanted to make sure her students, future teachers, would be ready to teach all who set foot in their gymnasiums including children with visual impairments.
Over 25 similar camps have been created around the world in the past 15 years. “Brockport has been supportive, but it all started at UW-La Crosse,” says Lieberman. “We ran programs exactly like the ones at Camp Abilities. I learned all the skills to make this happen at UWL.”
Beyond giving hundreds of children the chance to prove their athleticism, the program is also moving research forward. When Lieberman started the camp, the most recent research was about a decade old. “Now we bring children with visual impairments in one place and we can assess motor skills, get their opinions, talk to parents and learn about their physical education experiences,” she says.
Lieberman is on the forefront of the research, publishing dozens or articles and books on the topic — particularly focusing on children with visual impairment and inclusion. Recently, she won an Access Award from the American Foundation for the Blind for starting Camp Abilities.
“The community now sees children who are blind doing judo, running, and biking, instead of as non-athletes,” notes Lieberman. “The U.S. is doing a good job training people with visual impairments because of things like Camp Abilities.”
For more information on Camp Abilities, or to support its efforts, visit http://www.campabilities.org.