The island is Martha’s Vineyard. The place is Camp Jabberwocky, a sleepover summer camp for people with a variety of disabilities. During Dr. Gardner’s twenty-five years as a volunteer camp physician, he developed surprising ties to individuals with Down syndrome, autism, traumatic brain injuries, cerebral palsy, and manic depression. Instead of focusing on people’s differences, he watched the campers and their helpers appreciate what we all have in common. What makes us laugh, cry, and sometimes argue. What makes us human, whatever our background. To borrow the iconic phrase of Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, he felt “invisible lines of connection” with the campers. Leaving Camp Jabberwocky at the end of those summers, he developed unlikely connections with people from different walks of life, sometimes in unexpected places, including a hospital in Haiti, a down-on-its-luck golf course in Florida, and The Boston Holocaust Memorial. At a time when people’s differences are often used as tools to divide and vilify, Dr. Gardner spotlights our common humanity through the invisible but profound connections he forms with the individuals in these stories, who shared their life experiences with him and forever changed him as a human being.
