His parents were told he would only survive a few hours after birth . It was the late 1950s , and James LeBrecht ’ 78 was born with spina bifida , a birth defect of the spinal cord . Although the condition affected his mobility , he survived . And not only that , he thrived . The doctors were wrong .
While many children with disabilities at that time were sent to institutions , LeBrecht was one of the few who attended public school , often the only student in his school to use a wheelchair . He would later travel 3,000 miles from the east coast to attend UC San Diego , helping establish the Disabled Student Union in his first year as an undergraduate . Growing up in the 60s and 70s , the Marshall College student studied acoustics in the Theatre and Dance Department , hoping he could one day be the sound man for the Grateful Dead . To this day , he often sports a tie-dye Dead T-shirt , even after his 35-year career in sound design , first at the Berkeley Repertory Theater and later working in film , particularly documentaries . “ I had seen the power of documentary films ,” says LeBrecht , “ and I saw films about disability too , but I always felt like there was something lacking in them .”
LeBrecht had a story of his own , however , one he thought might make for a perfect documentary . He approached a director and producer he ’ d worked with , Nicole Newnham , and told her about a summer camp for kids with disabilities that he attended in the 1970s .
“ The wild thing is that this camp changed the world ,” he said . “ And no one knows this story .”
Until now .
A three-hour ride away from bustling New York City , Camp Jened was a handful of rustic wood cabins set among green fields and fragrant pine trees . The Catskill Mountain summer camp dated back to the 1950s and was specifically made for hosting teens with disabilities , though its traditional camp structure of organized roles and activities would eventually be influenced by the 1970s counter-culture . As a teenager , LeBrecht heard about “ a camp for the handicapped , run by hippies .” He recalled someone telling him , “ You know , you ’ ll probably smoke dope with the counselors .” He was all in .
Camp Jened would become a sort of utopia for teens with disabilities , a place where they could be themselves , as themselves , and have respite from a day-to-day world that was not built for them . Instead of exclusion , impatience or indifference , there was freedom , fellowship and acceptance . Regardless of the degree of disability , everyone participated , not only in camp activities like baseball and swimming , but also in daily decision-making , such as choosing the week ’ s meals and how to structure their days . Having such agency over their lives was a revelation , and as it changed the course of these campers ’ lives , it would eventually come to change the world .
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