Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507100095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE LENGTH: Medium
Bert Haneman's feet don't usually touch the ground, but Saturday they were 32 feet above it.
Sitting on a wooden tower high over the forest floor, the 18-year-old was getting ready to make his first try at rappelling - lowering himself down a sheer wall to the ground on a rope.
As he looked down, he could see the faces of cheering camp counselors and, at the bottom of the rope, his electric wheelchair. Because of his severe cerebral palsy, Haneman can't get around without it.
This is Haneman's eighth summer at Camp Easter Seal-West, off Virginia 606 just outside this Craig County community. It's one of a chain of nonprofit camps across the nation that help disabled children and adults become more independent and self-confident. Saturday, Haneman and his fellow campers participated in the camp's first action day.
With a $2,000 grant from a sports-wheelchair manufacturer, the camp was able to buy new equipment and provide specialized training for events ranging from rappelling and road racing to scuba diving.
Dropping from the rappelling tower, Haneman kicked into space and swung back, thumping his feet against the tower wall, lowering himself gently. As he neared the bottom, he lost his balance and pushed his helmeted head against the wall to steady himself.
"Good move with the head!'' yelled his camp counselor, Jin Sherman, who helped him down from the rope and into his wheelchair, where he could remove his rappelling harness and helmet. "That was great, Bert! You're sweating like an animal!"
"It was a lot easier on the way down than going up," Haneman said, red-faced and breathing hard. To get up the tower, he'd had to climb using a rope and pulley. The exercise develops upper body strength for those who can't use their legs.
"Yo, Adrienne! I want Apollo now!'' he joked, mimicking Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, as the counselor freed his hand from a tightly wound bandage wrap. Haneman had to wear the bandages to protect himself from rope burn, because gloves couldn't easily fit on his hands. They're cramped and twisted by his cerebral palsy.
"I've done tree climbing, but that was nothing compared to this," he said. "This is a good workout." Back home in Portsmouth, the high school junior lifts weights three or four times a week, hits a punching bag every day and plays other sports, such as baseball.
But he wasn't always this active or sure of himself. When he first attended Camp Easter Seal, "I wasn't as strong as I am now," he said. "These guys made me become stronger mentally and physically by putting challenges ahead of me."
Sports are just a small part of the daily challenges that most campers face here. Child campers, who can enroll at age 5, learn how to dress by themselves or use the bathroom alone.
Experiences such as learning to use a catheter to urinate or digitally stimulating the bowels, which can be embarrassing, frustrating and lonely, become less so with the help of therapists.
Counselors hold contests to see who can dress fastest and who can drink their milk fastest. But nobody's a loser. Everyone cheers until the last child finishes.
"I think camp brings them out of their shells," said Jodi Richardson, who teaches campers music, dance and drama. "This camp really focuses on what you can do, and it expands your abilities."
When the kids play, their disabilities are forgotten. In a game of T-ball, 5-year-old Jeremiah Caudill almost falls out of his wheelchair to catch a grounder. John Stinson, 12, who can walk with braces and crutches, tags first base by falling in an improvised slide.
"I came here thinking about disabilities," said counselor Israel Pattison. "OK, they have spina bifida or cerebral palsy, but Jeremiah's cool because of who he is. I like just reading bedtime stories to him."
Older campers work on refining their skills, preparing for life on their own.
Haneman scaled walls this year. Last year, he couldn't get out of his wheelchair without help. Now, with a little difficulty, he gets out of the chair and seats himself for lunch. He's looking forward to college next year and a career in business or sports management.
"When I first got here, I didn't have the self-confidence," he said. "I'm a lot tougher now."
by CNB