Camp for disabled adults about more than nature, art

July 23--HUDSON -- Sometimes, amid nature walks, arts and crafts, swimming, cookouts, games, boat night, dancing and conversation, something unexpected happens.

"No matter what affects you, where you're from, how you are brought up, you can find love no matter where you are," said Zach Gadson, 29, of Washington.

Dawn Burns, 34, also of Washington, smiled with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Without camp, I never would have met Zach," Burns said. "It's changed my life in so many ways."

A few minutes later, Burns rose from a park bench at Timber Pointe Outdoor Center in Bloomington and chatted with Gadson as she pushed him in his wheelchair.

Gadson was a camper and Burns an attendant at this week's 25th annual Horizon Camp for adults with physical disabilities.

They also are husband and wife. They met at an MDA camp in 2008, stayed in touch, have attended Horizon Camp since 2009, began dating, fell in love and married in September 2015.

In attendance this week at Horizon Camp are 256 people from throughout Illinois -- 112 campers whose disabilities include muscular dystrophy, spina bifida and cerebral palsy and 144 volunteer attendants who assist the campers, said Kathy Kingston of Arlington Heights, a founding member of the Association of Horizon, which sponsors the camp.

"We want people with disabilities to forget about having a disability for a week and to feel like any other summer camper," Kingston said.

Along the way, something deeper has happened.

"This is my second family because there is absolutely no judgement here," said Lisa Caldwell, 23, of Berwyn, who uses a wheelchair because she has several disabilities and has had 60 hip and brain surgeries in her lifetime. She and several other campers and attendants on Monday discussed their years at Horizon Camp as they did arts and crafts.

"You are accepted here no matter what," Caldwell said. "It's breaking down barriers between the disabled and the non-disabled."

"You might have a disability but you live and love yourself no matter what," said camper Dana Andrews, 25, of Bloomington.

Andrews, who uses a wheelchair because she has a form of muscular dystrophy, is a 2009 graduate of Normal Community High School and attends Heartland Community College. She attended MDA camp as a child and is attending her seventh Horizon Camp.

"Everyone here is a second family to me," said Earlene Barnes, 48, of Chicago, who began attending Horizon Camp in 1994 as a volunteer attendant and then returned as a camper after a car crash resulted in her using a wheelchair.

"I have the unique perspective of having experienced Horizon from both sides," Barnes said. "I had helped other people and now I was humbly asking other people to help me."

She gets together with fellow campers and attendants throughout the year. "I don't feel so isolated," Barnes said.

Bobby Flynn, 34, of Normal, has been a volunteer attendant at the camp since 2000. Over the years, his three siblings and niece also have volunteered.

"I have met some of my best friends here," Flynn said. "It's very humbling and uplifting and I get to be in a forest for a week."

David Meehan, 17, of Homewood, is volunteering for the second summer as an attendant for Larry Marshall, 39, of Prophetstown, who uses a wheelchair because he has cerebral palsy.

"Larry makes every second fun," Meehan said. "That's infectious."

"I think it's awesome to find a place that's like this for everyone," said Marshall, a camper for four years.

Gadson, who can't walk and has weak muscles because of muscular dystrophy, is a senior adviser for technical support with Apple. Burns is a teacher at Washington Middle School.

"I like just playing games and laughing with friends here," Gadson said. "Horizon Camp breaks down barriers. It allows different people to hang out together."

"We need this at this time," Kingston said, referring to camp week happening during a time of strife worldwide.

"But these kinds of stories -- stories of passion, inclusiveness and love -- are happening all around the world, not just in Hudson. We just need to look around."

Follow Paul Swiech on Twitter: @pg_swiech

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