“The Acorn People” is a novella based on the true experiences of the author, Ron Jones, who spent a summer shortly after his college graduation as a counselor at a youth camp. He’d had visions of spending his days basking on the beach with adoring children at his side, and he was not in any way emotionally prepared for what was to come. Camp Wiggins was a camp for handicapped children, and he had never worked with the handicapped before.
In the first chapter, we see his initial reactions of revulsion. Some of the children smell, many drool, some don’t have arms, legs, and some don’t have arms or legs. He’s only been through one day of training on how to care for these children, and he doesn’t think he has what it takes to give them what they need. But he is in charge of five children, and, along with his partner Dominic, tries to make it though just one day.
The first morning, however, all the children wake up wet, the stress of being away from home affecting their bladders. It takes Ron and Dominic an hour just to get everyone changed and ready for the day. Ron is seriously considering throwing in the towel.
But then something amazing happens. A little bit at a time, all during that second day, he starts to see past the infirmities and see, instead, the hearts of the children. He makes friends with the five he’s assigned to, and he watches them interact with the other campers. There’s even some flirting that goes on, and he smiles, thinking that romance isn’t impossible for these kids. In fact, nothing is impossible, as they prove to themselves and to him when they decide they want to climb up Lookout Mountain.
For the first several yards, they roll along in their wheelchairs. Fatigue soon sets in, but they find ways to encourage each other. Finally, the grade is too steep for the chairs, so the children climb down and propel themselves on their bottoms with the palms of their hands. Nothing is going to stop them from reaching the top.
The administrator of the camp seems determined to keep them all in their little boxes, but Ron does whatever he can to help them express their own uniqueness. My favorite scene in the book is when the kids put on a water ballet for Parents’ Day, going against every restriction they’ve been given and loving every minute of it. Who says that a person in a wheelchair can’t be the star of a water ballet?
I loved this book. It showed on every page the strength that lies in the human spirit, and how we only limit ourselves by telling ourselves we are limited. These kids accomplished so much that summer, and Ron was forever changed. He went back to that camp year after year, loving every minute of it, a far cry from his first reaction.
(This book was published in 1976 by Bantam Doubleday.)
Note: I realize and appreciate that we now use the term “special needs;” however, in 1976 when this book was published, the term used was “handicapped,” which is why I use the phrase in this blog.
Related Blogs:
Ten Ways a Special Needs Child Will Change You Forever
Keeping Your Marriage Strong While Raising a Special Needs Child