Camp Jened: choices in the era of experimentation
Jacobson
What about at Camp Jened?
Allison
So when I got to Jened and I was with Jack and then Alan Winters was there, Jened was an opportunity to try to do some different
kinds of things. As you remember, that era was an era of a lot of experimentation. I mean, we were moving into the flower--you
know, the hippie era, the flower power era, antiwar, love, peace--and the camp really
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became in a lot of ways, as it evolved in the sixties and into the seventies, a reflection of what was going on in the larger
society.
One of the things--remember, Jened served simultaneously adults, teenagers, and smaller kids, and I think we stopped with
the smaller kids and it was teenagers and adults at some point later on, but initially--and they went for four weeks or eight
weeks. So it was an opportunity for particularly the teenagers, and I was the head of the teen unit, to experience, to do
things that teenagers were doing, albeit in a cloistered kind of way but at least there was an opportunity, including dating.
You know, having--we had a lot of dances, I remember, but having the ability to lead--to the extent, again, in a cloistered
kind of situation, and I hate to use the word--but quote-unquote "normal" kind of teenage existence, experiencing those things
that nondisabled teenagers took as a matter of--you know.
Jacobson
Was that because of Jack doing that?
Allison
It was a kind of evolutionary kind of thing. I think Jack was still kind of from the old school in terms of the program and
schedules and stuff like that, but I do believe that Jened loosened him up a little bit. But the program evolved. It really
evolved over--Alan was not a social worker; Alan came from a totally different kind of perspective. There was sort of not
a professional kind of discipline he brought to it. He just had worked at Oakhurst for a very long time, and sort of knew
how to do this, knew how to--
Alan was very comfortable and was always much more comfortable in dealing with the physical plant. I was the program director
under him, so I was, like, the number two. He was more concerned with the physical plant: making sure that the water was on,
the electricity was on, that the bunks were kept in repair. You know, overseeing---I think we built the infirmary, we built--I'm
trying to remember--I don't remember if the swimming pool was built when he was there or I was there, but--
Jacobson
Wasn't the swimming pool installed in 1969, after the fire?
Allison
Yes. That's the year camp didn't open.
Jacobson
Okay.
Allison
Yes.
Jacobson
Was Jack a social worker?
Allison
Yes, Jack was a social worker. He was trained in the discipline, and he brought that kind of perspective to camping, to camping
for people with disabilities.
Jacobson
Tell me about the Jened Foundation?
Allison
The Jened Foundation was comprised of basically parents, and they had a couple of people on the board who were not parents.
There was a guy named William Miller, who was an attorney, who raised a lot of money. I'm trying to remember. There was one
particular patron who also gave a lot of money to NYU, and I'm trying to remember--his bust was in the dining hall--trying
to remember who that was. The name is escaping
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me. They ran a bingo game to raise money out in Brooklyn, and then there were some smaller grants from places like the Hechsher
Foundation, which would give money for, like, equipment. And I think the Hechsher Foundation helped us with the swimming pool,
as I recall.
So this was not a high-powered kind of board of directors with people who are socially prominent and very wealthy. Bernard
Abrashkin, who was the president, had a daughter, Ellie [Eleanor] Abrashkin, who was a camper, and Barney was the general
counsel for the non-uniformed sanitation workers. He recruited some friends. I remember there was a guy named Jack Slatkin,
who was the treasurer. I don't think Jack had children there. Bill Miller, who was a guy who raised a lot of money. Ida Levine,
who was also on the board of directors for United Cerebral Palsy, New York State, New York City--I think Ida was--Ida on our
board. I'm drawing blanks after that, but they ran the bingo game. What we took in from fees and whatever we raised from foundations
really was--that was it. That was the budget.
Money was a constant struggle. It was not a wealthy organization by any stretch of the imagination. I think the counselors
got paid $250 for the summer. I think that was the whole thing. That was a lot of money in those days. "Do you want it weekly,
or do you want it at the end?" I just remember struggling. The money, the money, the money, the money.
Jacobson
Where did you get staff?
Allison
We recruited from college kids essentially. What we would try to do--and high school kids, who started out as waiters and
waitresses. We had a lot of recidivism. We would have people that would come back, and sometimes they would come back in the
same capacity, and sometimes they would come back in a different capacity. Joan Lazar started as a counselor; came back as
the chief nurse.
There was a good reason for it. It was a wonderful--I can't think of anybody who had a bad experience up there. If there were,
they kept it from me. And all of us felt like it was a very special time and we could not wait for the winter to be over,
for the summer to begin so we could do it again. There was a sense of purpose. There was a sense of freedom up there. It really
was different from anything I'd ever known, ever done in my life, and I have never done since. We made friends. I mean, this
relationship between camper and counselor blurred, and there were friendships that developed. People could see each other
as human beings.
Toward the end, that was the whole purpose. The whole purpose was to get rid of the labels and to look at people as human
beings because otherwise you can't possibly understand if you were going into the so-called helping professions--you couldn't
possibly help this person if you were relating to him or her through the confines of a label, that--you know, you were doomed
to failure.
What happened is that the whole relationship--it broke down into much more human kind of friendships and so on and so forth,
and that led directly to hiring disabled people as counselors.
Jacobson
Okay. Let me turn the tape over.
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Allison
Okay. I've talked that much. God, I am a long-winded--
― [Tape 1, Side B] ―
Jacobson
Were you aware of other programs for the handicapped at other camps, and what were the differences?
Allison
I was vaguely aware. I had some relationships with like Sue Samuels and people like that, and I think that the difference
was-largely because it was the teen camp and there was adult camp--I think the difference was we were much more, initially,
I guess you'd call it experimental in terms of what was it we were trying to accomplish. We saw it as--first of all, adults
were coming up there to have a vacation. I mean, adults don't need--at that time--okay, you had your resorts, and you do at
these resorts--you have these structured activities during the day. And that was a vacation.
But the option was you could do it or you--yes, you could learn ballroom dancing and take calisthenics and learn yoga, or
you could just go for a walk or go swimming. These are adults, largely people--many of them who lived in hospitals, many of
them who were literally confined to their homes, did not get out, did not participate in the general life in any significant
way. So you wanted to offer them activities and everything so they would have a good time, but you also wanted to respect
the fact that they were adults and this was their vacation. While families would talk about "you don't know what it's like
to have a disabled child" and "he's a disabled--" whatever, you know--so it was kind of a vacation in their minds for them
when this person would go away. But it was also a vacation for the person--it was a two-way street.
Jacobson
Was that just a sign of the times, or was that something that just came with the territory? And then with teen camp there
was just a sense of, like, of wanting--I'm not putting it very eloquently--but wanting to provide a kind of environment where
teenagers could be teenagers, without having to deal with all of the stereotypes and the labels and stuff.
Allison
It was a combination. I think it was something that the times--again, to put it in the context of people questioning the established
order, how things were done and why they were done, so that certainly had a role in it; and I think that the part in terms
of people becoming close to one another, the rules of counselor and camper were blurring, and people simply being friends
led inevitably to--you know, "We got to re-think this," and the need for the experience to be as ultimately--to give people
enough freedom so the experience is what they make it, not what you try to push down their throats, but the experience is
what they make it. They have the choice. They make the choice. And treat people with--ultimately with respect so that they
can make that choice. Then they have the right to make that choice.
I remember very, very distinctly--and this is in adult camp--a couple who wanted to have sex, and the counselor came to me
and said, "So-and-so and So-and-so want to have sex, and they can't do it themselves; they want me to help them." I said,
"So why are you telling me? It's none of my business. They're adults." Now, I said that, and I meant that, and in the back
of my head, as the director of the camp, I thought, "Oh, my God, I'm gonna get sued on this. I don't want the lawyers to even
know about this."
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But it was--I mean, it was kind of like, "Man, you talk the talk; you better walk the walk." This was one of these moments
of truth. You know, here are two adults. They are both severely physically disabled in terms of their range of motion, their
ability, they were in love and ultimately got married and they wanted to have sex but needed the help of a surrogate. And
so, the counselor was coming to me for instructions. I just--you know, I--it's none of my business.
I think with anybody under eighteen--because we were acting in loco parentis--that would have been a different--I would have not said that. That would have been a different situation. But we also had
to live with if you're going to let teenagers be teenagers, then give them a certain degree of freedom. It wasn't rampant
freedom. I mean, everybody had to be in bed at a certain hour, you know.
Jacobson
Yes, I know. I remember.
Allison
So the rest of us could go out to play. But there was opportunity. There was opportunity if people wanted to be creative.
And that was part of--you had to live with that. I mean, you know, teenagers are going to be teenagers, and this is something
that it goes with the territory.
Jacobson
Jened was one of the few camps that was open to teenagers.
Allison
Yes.
Jacobson
Oakhurst cut them off at fourteen. Camp Carolla's cut off age was fourteen for boys and sixteen for girls.
Allison
Literally, what did kids do? What did severely disabled kids do in the summertime? I have no idea what they did.