Volunteers With Learning Disabilities

[qwazse]

In one of Bryan's forums,  http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/forums/topic/adult-free-outings/#post-39683

an fella used "Jimmy the Retarded Scoutmaster" in reference to someone who would endorse scouts enjoying the pinnacle scouting experience.  Well, rather than getting sour about this lemon, I thought I could load my water gun and squirt off a little lemonade    here ...

 

Growing up, one of our ASMs had a moderate to severe learning disability ... sorta like Down's syndrome. Nice guy. Not really good for camping. (Some of the older scouts recalled some mean stories from his boyhood days.) However, he was great at keeping track of stuff, jotting down notes for the SM, organizing material for activities, etc ... And he genuinely like us. Which, as a boy went a long way, considering that some of the other ASMs were not as expressive and others were kinda corrupt.

 

As an adult, it helped me to expect the best from learning disabled youngsters.

 

I thought it would be good to hear from other scouters about their learning-disabled adult leaders. How do you involve them in your program?