When Camp Awareness was founded in 1998, autism was not nearly as well-known as it is today. "When my son was diagnosed, 1 in 10,000 (births) were the numbers," according to Sue Hansen, camp founder and director. Earlier that year, Hansen spent a frustrating few days at Cub Scout camp with son Sean, then 9, whose behavior was a source of bewilderment to the other boys and parents. "I spent my whol

Clark Elliott, 10, explains his perception of autism and the benefits he's received from Camp Awareness: "It's kind of like a disease, but you're born with it and it's not like something that can go away. It's not really bad. I mean, in some cases it's bad. In some cases it can even make you smart. I mean, I'm in Horizons -- that's a special program at my school if you're a really smart kid, and I

"If you can see these children's eyes when they hear their song -- they have tubes in their arms; they have oxygen to their face. They are small, they are hurting, and they hear their name and their song come out and such a smile comes to their face, a twinkle in their eye." Such are the reactions to Songs of Love, explained Steve Rudoff, whose youth group at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck is helping

Everyone has quirks. You might pop your knuckles, bite your lip or twirl your hair. These habits might be hard to break, but it's not impossible. Unless you have Tourette syndrome. Although the condition is hard to diagnose, about one in 2,000 children have Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by repeated involuntary movements and uncontrollable vocalizations known as tics. Tou

"I'm not a genetic freak. I'm a genetic phenomenon,'' says Jennifer Oklak. Jennifer, 19, and her sister Heather, 13, are among about 18,000 Americans affected by albinism, a genetic condition in which a person has little to no pigment, or coloration. Jennifer graduated from the Indiana School for the Blind last spring and is studying graphic design at Ivy Tech State College. Heather is a seventh-g

A few years ago, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "In too many countries, an official conspiracy of silence about AIDS has denied people information that could have saved their lives. We must empower young people to protect themselves through information and a supportive social environment that reduces their vulnerability to infection." No continent has been more devastated by AIDS than Afr

"We're wearing masks not because we are afraid, but kind of for precaution and protection of other people," said Koren Sin. Koren, a senior at Sacred Heart Canossian College, an all-girls school in Pokfulam, Hong Kong, shared this sentiment during a recent videoconference with Y-Press. Many of her fellow students, all sporting white surgical masks, were eager to talk about how SARS has affected th

Being in middle school is hard. Add a chronic disease, and it is even harder. "I couldn't really believe that I had a disease, 'cause I didn't think that could happen to me. But then I met other people that had it, and I didn't think I was the only one anymore." That was 12-year-old Alex Peck's first reaction to the news that she had Crohn's disease. Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel

Sweet and optimistic, Katie Mahar is a typical 10-year-old girl. The Craryville, N.Y., resident is the youngest of four children. She jumps on her trampoline, listens to the Backstreet Boys and plays with her kitten, Pumpkin. She also has a disease called xeroderma pigmentosum, a genetic disorder also known as XP.

Only a couple of decades ago, daily shots were the only way to control diabetes. Now kids and adults are favoring the insulin pump over traditional injections. While the pumps have been around since the early '60s, they are more popular now because they are smaller -- about the size of a beeper -- and have digital controls. The pump has changed the lives of thousands of kids with juvenile -- or Ty

Bipolar disorder is a condition that causes drastic swings in sufferers' moods and outlook. Zack Lamm, 22, a computer programming student at ITT Tech, has been living with the disorder since his teens. Here is his story: "It is like a curse. I've learned a lot more about myself because I've had to basically dig deep down inside myself and try to understand what part of me is the illness and what p

When you wake in the morning, you usually get out of bed and walk to the bathroom or the kitchen without trouble. But for Indianapolis resident Joyce Cofer, that is sometimes not the case. Cofer is affected by an unpredictable disease called multiple sclerosis, often called MS. So is former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. MS attacks the central nervous system. Its symptoms, which can come and

O n Jan. 2, 2000, Christina Vogt, 14, awoke from a restless sleep to see her parents gazing at her with worried expressions. "I had been up real late the night before, and I hadn't had much sleep. I just had seizure after seizure, like five seizures in a row," said the Lawrence Township student. "We couldn't figure out what was wrong with me." After a series of tests, neurol ogists diagnosed epile

EDITOR'S NOTE: Michal McDowell is a sophomore at the International High School of Indiana. Last summer, she traveled to South Africa with her mother, Jennifer Drobac, a board member for the California-based Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which focuses on major health care issues. The foundation is one of several funders for loveLife, and its officials toured loveLife facilities to determine wh

A lcoholism. In brief, the dictionary says it's a disease where a person drinks to excess. Sarah, a 13-year-old local student and daughter of an alcoholic father, goes a step further. "It's a disease where a person drinks too much. They get addicted to it, and they keep wanting it. It's just a disease based on lies." For many young people in similar situations, finding support can be difficult. Al