by Holly Cuozzo ’12

photo by Mark Friedrich

As Mark Freidrich approached a stage in front of hundreds of other disabled campers, the room roared with applause. A similar group of campers has come to this camp for many years, and Mark is one of the more well-known people. They are all part of Young Life Capernaum, a Christian youth group for disabled persons, and I had the privilege of being at camp with them as a volunteer “buddy.” Mark is outgoing, friendly, and incredibly adventurous despite his disability.

Mark suffers from Spina Bifida, a birth defect resulting from the backbone and spinal canal failing to join before birth. Due to this, Mark has been in a wheel chair for his entire life and has difficulty learning and interacting with others. However, he does not let his physical difficulties keep him from climbing the rock wall or riding the zip line; he likes to live life to the fullest no matter what.

Once Mark came up to the stage, he thanked everyone for their kindness. He began to talk about how it feels to be disabled, trying to focus on how it was all part of God’s plan—he is strong in his Christian faith. “Everyone has a disability,” he said.  This hit all of the buddies much harder than it did any of the campers. We all knew that we had some sort of difficulties in our lives, but we would never have called it a disability due to the negative connotation that, that word carries. These words reminded us all that we are all equal no matter how we differ.