BSA Disabilities Awareness Page

Bookmark this page which points to BSA’s online special needs documents. A good place to start for Boy Scouts is Guide to Working with Scouts with Special Needs and DisABILITIES. The Scouting for Youth with Disabilities Manual provides more detailed advice on specific disabilities and is applicable to all BSA programs. The Guide to Advancement is where to go for advancement guidelines and policy.

Some BSA special needs publications are available in hard copy only:

• A Scoutmaster’s Guide to Working with Scouts with Disabilities #33056A
• Understanding Cub Scouts with Disabilities #33839
• These are available through the Scout Shop but call first (303.477.4830) to see what they have in stock. 

They can also be ordered through:

BSA National Distribution Center
2109 Westinghouse Blvd.
PO Box 7143
Charlotte, NC 28241-7143

800.323.0732

See how Denver Area Council serves special needs in the following videos:

Special Needs Scouting Outreach

This video explores the many ways Denver Area Council reaches out to youths who have special needs.

Troop 5280 helps Scouts with Special Needs

Troop 5280 is the first transitional Boy Scout troop in the Denver metro area. It was formed in 2009 to provide special needs scouts between 10½ and 18-years-old with the basic foundation and knowledge of the traditional Boy Scout program.

Father and Son: Tim and Jack Ryan

Exposing Jack to Scouting was never part of a grand plan. Tim Ryan had very warm feelings for his time in the Scouts as a youth, but the years from the time he learned Jack was autistic (1994) until he started in Cub Scouts (2000) were a whirlwind of therapies and other efforts to address the autism that had become the central feature of their family’s lives.

Special Needs: Zeb’s Story

Learn how a special needs Boy Scout with Down syndrome was included in Troop 767, Gateway District, Denver Area Council.

Electricity: Working with Kids that have Special Needs

See how the adult leaders of Troop 5280 interact with their youths.

Handouts and Flyers from the DAC Special Needs Team 

Guide to Working with Scouts with Special Needs and DisABILITIES

• Currently being rewritten as Information for Working with Scouts with Special Needs and DisAbilities.

Scouting for Youth with Disabilities Manual

• While somewhat dated, this useful manual addresses special needs for all the Scouting programs. It replaces a series of publications that addressed specific disabilities such as blindness, mental retardation and emotional disabilities.

BSA Policy on Disabled Scouts

• The Boy Scouts of America’s applicable policies regarding Scouting and the disabled.

Guide to Advancement

• This manual, revised in 2013, gives the current BSA policies for advancement.

Definitions of Types of Disabilities

• A list and description of common disabilities quoted and adapted from the BSA Publication A Scoutmaster’s Guide to Working with Scouts with Disabilities.