Our 2017 Staff Orientation continued today with more training and visits from several guest speakers, including Dr. Graham Sisson, Jr. Dr. Sisson currently serves as the Executive Director for the State of Alabama’s Governor’s Office On Disability (GOOD). He is a 1987 summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Alabama with a B.S. degree in accounting and minors in history and english.
He also received his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1990 and graduated from Auburn University in 2016 with a PhD in Rehabilitation, Counseling and Leadership. Described as an “all around good guy” by Camp Director Matt Rickman, Dr. Sisson served as Board Chair for Camp ASCCA in 2004 and considers it to be the most successful and user-friendly camp in the world!
On June 27, 1982, three weeks after his high school graduation, Dr. Sisson was involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver who was fleeing police from a neighboring county. His back was broken in half and he also suffered from a closed head injury which caused him to be in a coma for about eight and a half weeks. He was paralyzed from the waist down, and as a result, he uses a wheelchair to get around.
Since the majority of today’s training involved transfers and lifting in and out of wheelchairs, his discussion with our staff addressed that process. The different topics he discussed included wheelchair etiquette, general etiquette when speaking or referring to people with disabilities and common misconceptions about people with disabilities. With his extensive law experience, Dr. Sisson also touched on a few laws geared towards people with disabilities.
One of the things he stressed to our staff was the importance of sharing the perspective that there is no difference between those who were born with disabilities and those who have acquired one. “The limitations are the same,” he said. He also educated them on the importance of seeing the person and not the disability, as a means to not count them out. “The biggest crime against those with disabilities is low expectations,” he said. Camp ASCCA is designed to give our campers an experience they don’t get anywhere else, and we hire staff who enjoy helping them believe and achieve what they thought would be impossible. Our desire is for them to carry this same confidence beyond their days at camp!
He reassured our staff of the rewarding opportunity they’ll experience this summer which will not only impact campers, but them as well. “The greatest rich you can acquire in life is helping other people,” he said. We enjoyed having Dr. Sisson speak with our staff and thank him for continuing to be an advocate for Camp ASCCA and the people we serve. Be sure to stay tuned to more Staff Orientation fun on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and right here on our website!
Jasmine Reed, PR
Camp ASCCA 2017
Staff Orientation
Located in Alabama on Lake Martin, Camp ASCCA offers campers a wide variety of traditional recreational and educational activities with a unique design for accessibility.
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