tent in the forest
Like other youth?
Segregation and discrimination among the Boy Scouts
By William J. Peace
Until my son expressed an interest in Scouting, I knew nothing about the Boy Scouts of America. When Tom entered first grade and wanted to join a Cub Scout pack, though, I began learning fast.
I found myself excluded from virtually all Scout activities because I use a wheelchair. Many Scouting events in the Westchester-Putnam Boy Scout Council were simply not accessible to wheelchairs.
At first I thought the lack of wheelchair access was simply because a disabled parent or child had never participated in Scouting locally, and I assumed my mere presence would heighten awareness of disability-related issues . It did not take long for me to realize my presence was not nearly enough.
Then I thought it was because the Scouts needed a little education. To this end, I agreed to take an active role, becoming a den leader and member of the Pack Executive Committee. With a wheelchair-using father active in Scouting and in a leadership role, surely wheelchair access would become a consideration, I figured -- after all, the Scouts were desperate for volunteers, and I was now giving a significant amount of my time to the organization.
At meetings I pointed out events that would present access problems. Surely, I thought, my participation would have an impact, for how could one justify excluding a leader?
Yet my requests for equal access have been continually ignored by my pack and the local council. It seems to be simply an issue they do not want to address.
Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has played a role in the lives of 100 million American boys. BSA is a multi-million-dollar organization with corporate offices in Texas and an endowment in excess of $2 billion.
The BSA has never been in sync with the times. In 2000, it won a Supreme Court victory banning gay members. It had fought for -- and has now won -- the right to classify itself as an exclusive club, one that actively discriminates against all those that are different. (Yet the BSA enjoys tax-exempt status, free use of county, state, and national parks and use of public school space. At the last Jamboree, the Federal government gave the Scouts over $1 million.) My own experiences show me that BSA's attitude toward disability is both antiquated and discriminatory.
According to the BSA's fact sheet on "Scouts With Disabilities and Special Needs," there are approximately 100,000 Scouts identified as "disabled." "Dr. James E. West, the first Chief Scout Executive, was himself disabled," says the fact sheet, which emphasizes that people who are disabled are to be treated with respect and stresses that BSA wants disabled boys to participate in its programs just as non-disabled boys do. It encourages including disabled Scouts in "mainstream" packs, troops, and venturers -- and clearly states this is the ideal.
However, inclusion of disabled Scouts is not always possible, it says, noting "there are many units composed of members with identical disabilities such as an all-blind Boy Scout Troop or an all-deaf Cub Scout pack. . . . Many of these special Scouting units are located in special schools or centers that make the Scouting program part of the curriculum." While the organization recognizes "the special needs of those with severe disabilities" and supposedly "encourages" disabled Scouts to participate in Scouting activities, in fact disabled Scouts and leaders seem frequently unwelcome, and often segregated into a "special unit."
In the handbook Scouting for Youth with a Physical Disability, the chapter on "The Youth in a Unit with Nondisabled Scouts" includes the topics "Judging the Youth's Limitations," "The Impossible Takes a Little Longer," "Helping Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers with Physical Disabilities" and "Will He Hold Us Back?"
The opening sentences of the book are telling:
"The troop lines up for the opening ceremony, moving into place at its leader's silent signal. This scene is routine, repeated tonight in thousands of cities and towns across America. . . . But there is a difference here. Three Scouts are in wheelchairs, another has only one arm, another stands on uneven legs, one has withered arms with fragile fingers, one has pale skin, and one waves his arm involuntarily during the Pledge of Allegiance. Before them stands a Scoutmaster. A saint perhaps? Maybe a physician or a physical therapist? Who else but a saint or a medical professional would try to lead this unlikely group?"
Regardless of intent, passages like this are troubling and deeply offensive. They suggest BSA remains woefully unprepared to deal with disabled leaders and boys who expect to be treated as equals.
Each Jamboree is every four years but this one was extra special because it was their 100th anniversary. He'll never again have that opportunity.
