Lonny Shavelson

Vacation Camp for the Blind

A Radio Story
& Photo Essay
by Lonny Shavelson
(aired on Prime Time Radio and WAMC/Northeast Public Radio)

From the radio story: "Tucked into the hills at Spring Valley, New York, is a summer
sleepaway camp for the blind. Its thirty-five rich green acres are usually packed with children.
But for two mid-summer weeks blind adults throw the blind kids out and take over
the camp for themselves. You’d hardly know it, though, because the adult campers,
many in their 70s and 80s, act just like kids. They toss away their white canes,
take their guide dogs off leash, sing bawdy songs late into the night –
then get up early in the morning, to play ball."

Evelyn Margolis, who still has slight vision, and a blind friend who wished to be unnamed


Kaloutie Sankar (leading) is severely visually impaired, but can distinguish light and shadows. Mary Sander and Margaret Wiltshire are blind.	Valerie Berkowitz, Gail Petraglia and Carlos Jorge. Listen to the radio show for their tour of the rails.

Since 1926, blind adults have come to this camp just an hour north of Manhattan. The secret
to their independence in the country is a handrail system that runs through the camp. Blind campers
leave their white canes behind, put their hands on the rails and glide from the dorms to the bowling
lanes. Or they head from the pool, through the trees to the shuffleboard courts – where tapping
sounds on the ground guide their aim.


Shandel Briggs, a blind counselor and Karate instructor


Tandem bicycle riding--	sighted riders in front, blind in back

Counselor Eva Gergely, who is sighted, puts suntan lotion
on Mary Jane McKay, who is not.


Valerie and Gail sing	"You'll Never Walk Alone."


Margaret Wiltshire	Wiltshire with Kaloutie Sankar. They've become close friends at the camp.

Betty Orenstein, at 85, is the oldest of the blind campers.

“For me, this camp is a wonderland,” said Betty Orenstein, eighty-five.
Her vision has slowly dimmed as she’s aged, and she now sees
no more than shadows. “I feel like a big kid here,” she explained.
“Everybody is screaming and singing, and they make a hell of a lot of noise,
which is lovely. I find it exuberating, it’s being alive!”


	At the shuffleboard court


The Rails

Kevin Barrett, a blind camper, in the pool