Improving accessibility for kids with disabilities is former AD's charity's goal
Camp, naturally.
The couple that met and got engaged in that environment is introducing an avenue for children with disabilities at area summer camps.
The link to the idea is Linc, or Lincoln, the 5-year-old autistic, non-verbal son of Ashland’s Stephen and Jamie Marks. The couple started the non-profit Linclusion program last fall and have already heard from potential partners from across the country and across the Atlantic.
But the world can wait until Linclusion finds its footing.
“We had amazing feedback from family, friends, companies,” said Stephen Marks, formerly the athletic director at Ashland High. “We’ve got people writing from all over the country wanting to partner up with us, but we want to start small.”
“Stephen and I want to go global,” said Jamie Marks, a Framingham High graduate. “We’ve actually been contacted by people from England and Ireland who want us to bring the program there. This summer we just want to start smaller. We just want to do it right and expand from there.”
The idea behind Linclusion is to match certified, personal aids with children with disabilities at summer camp. Linclusion will cover the costs of the aids and adaptive equipment and help make facilities accessible to all campers. The financial assistance not only fosters inclusion but reduces the burden on parents.
Keeping children occupied during the school year is a smaller challenge compared to summertime. Additionally, the cost to send a special needs child to camp rises exponentially; aids require payment of between $100 and $150 per hour in addition to registration fees.
“Finding things for them to do when they’re not at school is hard enough for a typically developing kid,” Jamie Marks said. “Finding stuff for kids who have disabilities to do is nearly impossible.
“Unless you’re a millionaire."
'Never able to be a kid'
Steven Marks’ first job after graduating from Ithaca College was sports coordinator in the early 2000s at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington’s summer camp in Rockville, Maryland. Jamie (Segill) Marks attended Pilgrim Day Camp in Framingham as a child and occasionally works there.
The pair met at CYJ (formerly known as Camp Young Judaea) in Amherst, N.H., when both were camp directors. Stephen proposed there, married Jamie and the couple started a family six years ago when son Logan was born. Lincoln arrived a year later.
The summers following the isolation of COVID-19 were structured around his care, not the care-free lifestyle that accompanies June, July and August.
“It was traumatic in a way,” Jamie said. “He was either stuck with us or going into therapy. He just never was able to be a kid.”
But Lincoln’s experience at Pilgrim last year changed everything.
“It was the first program that he was a part of that wasn’t school or therapy,” Jamie said. “I happen to be at camp sometimes, working, and to watch my son thriving in this environment: swimming and music and being with other kids. Having him go to camp this past summer was beyond amazing.
“That’s how we came up with the idea (of Linclusion); we thought, if Lincoln can do It, we know there's a million other kids in this position. Let's try and figure this out for other kids."
“We all saw the benefits of him being there,” said Kristen Kirby, Pilgrim’s director. “Then Jamie came up with the idea of Linclusion. And we said, ‘yes, we’re here to help.’”
Linclusion partners with local summer camps
Linclusion has partnered with Pilgrim and Ashland Rec Center to provide financial assistance for the individual counseling that special needs children require. All children at camp follow the same schedule, but the aid provides support when a child needs a break and requires time away from a group. The aid can also assist in transitioning the child back into an activity and can report to parents any breakthroughs achieved during the day.
“It’s a great communication system for the parent, aid and child,” Kirby said. “Especially after COVID, everyone wants their kids to be outside and play and have fun and be out of the classroom. It lets them build organic friendships in a more natural place to create friendships. And a summer camp is a perfect place for that.”
“(Having an aid is) a necessity,” added Stephen Marks, currently the Wellness Department Chair for Medfield Public Schools and an assistant coach for the high school’s girls basketball team. “If we didn’t have one-on-one help at summer camp, he wouldn’t be able to go. It wouldn’t even be a possibility. And that’s based on his disability. Each kid’s is different.”
Summer camp levels the playing field
Eva Cowen is another key link to Linclusion. She sits on the board of directors for the same JCC camp that Stephen Marks helped direct 20 years ago in Maryland. She has served as a consultant for Linclusion and is also a member of that non-profit’s board.
Cowen, who grew up with a brother who is on the autism spectrum, said one of her camp’s main roles is to raise money to pay for one-on-one counselors. And when neurodiverse children mix in with neurotypical ones at camp, the division between the two groups vanishes.
“The kids that are in camp with kids with disabilities are much more likely, than in school, to be less hesitant to interact with them,” Cowen said. “The playing field in camp is almost more than level. We have a climbing wall at camp and we have some kids without disabilities who are terrified who see a camper with autism scramble up the climbing wall. It’s a chance for kids with disabilities to shine at things that some of the other kids are afraid of.”
The idea from campers who became a couple to start Linclusion started with a little boy’s positive experience at Pilgrim last summer. The goal is to repeat Lincoln’s happy camper days.
“Seeing the other kids be so accepting of him and want to talk to him and want to play with him - there was no barrier there,” Jamie Marks said. “That was magical to see.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Charity for kids with disabilities started by former Ashland AD, wife
