Adaptive day camps held last month in South Surrey are being hailed as a "small but mighty success" by the parent of one participant.
And Jackie Vuilleumier is crossing her fingers the City of Surrey continues to expand such programming, so that more children and families can benefit.
"Our kids get to go and do something that is taken for granted with other families," Vuilleumier said, of camps tailored to children and youth with disabilities and diverse abilities.
Vuilleumier said she discovered sizable gaps in the city's offerings of adaptive supports, spaces and camps after she started working full-time last year and was looking for spring-break camps for her teen sons, the youngest of whom is autistic.
For her older son, the options were bountiful 鈥� there were more than 500 spots available to choose from in South Surrey alone.
But for Jason, now 15, Vuilleumier could find only six spaces "in the whole City of Surrey," and all of them were located at the northern end.
"Why does my one child who has more needs, why does he have to travel 55 minutes 鈥� and there's only six spots?" she said. "That's not equal access to camp."
Noting there are thousands of kids with special-needs designations registered at Surrey schools, Vuilleumier said she is "advocating for camps in every community."
Officials with the city's parks and recreation department said adapted youth camps have been running in the city for more than a decade, but confirmed that, up until last year, they were only offered in the Fleetwood area. Last summer, they were expanded to South Surrey "to offer more services in this community."
"The City of Surrey Accessibility and Inclusion Team will continue to evaluate program offerings annually," an emailed statement continues, noting staffing has been an ongoing challenge since COVID.
Vuilleumier, who works for the school district, said the expansion followed her appeal to a pair of city councillors and the mayor. While she said last year's pilot "failed miserably" for Jason 鈥� who she said doesn't actively engage with other participants, but enjoys being around other kids who are like him 鈥� she couldn't say enough about this year's offerings, which wrapped up locally on Aug. 23 at South Surrey Recreation Centre.
"When I picked him up at 3 o'clock, he was really happy," she said. "This is a good story."
She credited the success to camp leaders who not only had specific training to work with neuro-diverse youth, but also gave her a new level of comfort, including through daily photos or texts.
Vuilleumier described support staff as the bridge that connects kids like Jason to the community. The teen who loves noodles and doesn't go anywhere without his Angry Birds characters has "got some really good qualities," she said, but also "some really great deficits" that those unfamiliar with neuro-diverse diagnoses often don't recognize or understand.
The support staff at the summer camps "were the difference between Jason attending or him being sent home," Vuilleumier said.
"They were so good with my son."
Vuilleumier said without adaptive camps, many school-aged children and youth with disabilities and diverse abilities are "essentially isolated" from society and the community for the 14 weeks of the year when class is not in session; a reality she described as "so not fair."
"These kids, the research shows us that socialization is so important for development and physical activity, it gets those neurons working."
Parks officials said Surrey now has seven weeks of adapted camps throughout the summer for youth 13 to 18 years old. Four weeks offered in Fleetwood provide a 1:2 ratio of support, while three in South Surrey provide 1:1.
"The City continues to recruit and train staff to support our important programs such as this one," the statement concludes.
Vuilleumier was also excited by efforts in the City of White Rock, which introduced its first adaptive summer camps this year, in partnership with Uniti, following a suggestion by Coun. Michele Partridge.
John Woolgar, the city's director of recreation and culture, said the program for eight- to 16-year-olds "emphasizes the development of social skills and life skills through activities, hands-on engagement, and discussions." It ran for two weeks, with four participants in each week, a 3:1 support ratio and all activities facilitated by Uniti staff.
Woolgar said an evaluation of the program will determine what, if any, changes may be implemented for 2025.
Vuilleumier said expanded opportunities "will make our communities better."
"We need to include people everywhere 鈥� be compassionate and tolerant and accepting of one another," she said.
"I just wanted to show that it's so possible."
