Going to camp

Post Reply New Topic

I'm so nervous. I'm going to a camp for adults with disabilities tomorrow. It's a week-long sleepover camp, but I can't afford it this year (though- PARTY!- I got my "fully favorable" SSI decision today), so I'm just checking it out for a day. I'm not sure what we'll do or what the people there will be like. It's meant to focus on independent living skills, which I very much need. But, the director of the camp spoke to me and said I'm too high functioning and won't fit in. I think most people there have severe physical disabilities and maybe MR... I know I'll be higher functioning than some people if not most, but I'm hoping there will be SOMEone like me. I really want a friend.

I think we could all learn from something like that, I would be insulted if I was told I'm to high functioing, what does he know about me?

I always feel like people are invested in this idea of being able to function at a certain level if only we tried hard enough. Like it's all in there, we just have to push through and access it. To me, it feels like foundational skills are missing for me to be able to function as expected, and I am not even sure how to learn them. Yet, people seem to talk to me like I can just figure it out, or like I already know.

My staff seems to be of the opinion that if I just try hard enough, I can speak better. "Keep trying." "Come on, you can do it." No, I can't, and I'm done frustrating myself for the time being, thank you.

I can see both sides of it, kind of. I think their point is that I give up too easily. I try for ten seconds and decide I can't find the words and stop. Today, she asked me to try a little longer and I came up with exactly what I wanted (which was "in theory," if anyone's wondering).