Handicapped Scouts Join Jamboree

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31880, 7 January 1969, Page 10

Handicapped Scouts Join Jamboree

Handicapped scouts should be integrated into normal scout troops wherever possible, the national organiser for handicapped scouts (Mr G. Gander) said yesterday. Mr Gander is responsible for the attendance at the national scout jamboree at Kaiapoi of seven handicapped New Zealand scouts.

Mr Gander is also a visiting cerebral palsy therapist in the; Nelson and Timaru districts] of the Department of Health. “Making the most of what) they can do is the best way we can help these boys," Mr 1 Gander said. As far as was known, it was the first time anywhere in the world that handicapped scouts had been

invited to attend a jamboree las fully-fledged contingent I members, he said. ' The boys had been assigned Ito various sub-camps and had been readily accepted by the 'other boys. i A volunteer team of women cub leaders from Golden Bay. (Marlborough and Auckland was keeping a constant watch lon the handicapped scouts to (provide assistance if needed. Two of the scouts are totally blind, one is a recovered poliomyelitis victim, and four suffer from cerebal palsy. But in spite of their handicaps, the boys insisted on helping themselves as far as possible, Mr Gander said. Two boys were sponsored to the jamboree by the Crippled Children Society and another worked at the Foundation for the Blind to pay his entrance fee. The scouts come from Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Marlborough and Westland. After the jamboree the Scout Association intended to run a course for adult leaders in the training of handi'capped scouts, Mr Gander said. The course would pass on the valuable experience gained during the jamboree An important aspect of this experience would be the selection of alternative tests of skill which the handicapped boys could undergo to receive achievement awards.