Diversity in Outdoor Adventure Recreation
People with disabilities in the past have commonly been limited to experiencing outdoor programs that were segregated to only include the disabled. According to Sugerman (1996), this has historically been the only solution for overcoming "environmental barriers such as transportation, architecture, economics, and public attitudes" (p. 44). Diversity within an adventure program can present new challenges for the participants as well as opportunities for growth.
Sugerman displays how most people don't want to participate in programs designed specifically for the disabled, but they are interested in programs that integrate people both with and without disabilities. Activities such as hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, and camping provide the right scenario for a diverse group of individuals to overcome their fears and to conquer a goal.
The Wilderness inquiry is an example of a modern program that integrates its participants for outdoor adventures. Their Mission Statement goes as follows: "Through the medium of outdoor adventures, Wilderness Inquiry provides opportunities that integrate people in experiences that inspire personal growth and enhance awareness of the natural environment. The underlying purpose of Wilderness Inquiry is to provide positive experiences that reduce stereotypes and empower people to push their perceived limitations" (www.wildernessinquiry.com). They offer adventurous activities such as Kayaking in Lake Superior or Dog sledding in the Superior National Forest of Minnesota. Most of the participants get involved because of the high adventure type of activities that are offered. The people that choose to participate commonly show that they want to ...
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...s an opportunity for educators to learn more about integrating other programs.
This type of integration can be included in almost any type of adventure recreation program. Disabled individuals can benefit from this type of experience. This information provided will be very useful for current adventure providers as well as those in the future. The environmental barriers that typically exclude the disabled from recreational programs can be overcome by integrating the programs.
References
Sugerman, Deb Ph.D. (1996). Including people with disabilities in Outdoor Adventure Programs. Parks and Recreation, August. 44-47.
Wilderness Inquiry. The mission statement (2001) Retrieved April 9, 2001 at: www.wildernessinquiry.com
Maine Adaptive Sports and Recreation (MASR). Introduction (2001) Retrieved April 9, 2001 at: http://www.agate.net/~pelle/.
The agency, moreover, organizes a mixed diversity of recreation agendas containing sports clubs, youth improvement, therapeutic leisure, aquatic involvement, outdoor ventures, camping, and also elderly citizen activities. There are also special facilities and programs in place for people with incapacities and disabilities.
I would rewrite the policy and have a set of prequalifying rules to asset individuals with before allowing them to ride a ride. Not all disabilities are the same and nor should they all be asset the same way. Safety should always come first if the individual who wants to ride the ride is unable to hold their own head up, body weight and hold onto the safety bars they should not be allowed to ride.
As of 2011, it has been reported that there are 650 million disabled people in the world (“Disabilities”). Though this number is high, it is greatly underestimated because disabled people are commonly isolated and stigmatized by their community (“Disabilities”). After hearing of this extremely high number of disabled people, I then ultimately decided I would write my research paper on ways to help the disabled. Therapeutic riding has been actively helping individuals with disabilities for decades, and can benefit these unfortunate people physically, mentally, and emotionally. “Therapeutic riding, which originated in Europe, has been actively helping individuals with disabilities since the 1950's” (Shepard). Through equine-orientated activities, therapeutic riding is used to contribute to the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well being of people with emotional issues and disabilities (Shepard). I was astonished on how many ways therapeutic riding can benefit disabled people.
Another powerful video, Including Samuel, ignited my insight in this week’s class. As I heard in the video, “inclusion is an easy thing to do poorly.” The movie chronicles the life of a young boy, Samuel, and his family. With the shock of learning about their son’s disability, it caused his parents, Dan and Betsy, to experience the unexpected. Nevertheless, they did everything to include their son and help him live a normal life focused on his capabilities, rather than his incapabilities. I even admired how his friends knew so much about him, his likes and dislikes, his strengths and his weaknesses.
Having activities involving individuals with limitations or disabilities will raise awareness of the different types of disabilities. There also will put something positive back to the community. One of the organizations you can support is the Special Olympics where I am a participant. Are you ready to appreciate what you get than what you see? A person is more than their disability.
...golf. This clinic allows him to come on the golf course and still play the game of golf in his wheel chair. The mission of the Hillandale Golf Course Adaptive Golf Program is to provide a no cost nurturing golf environment four times a year for individuals who have experienced a birth defect, illness, traumatic accident or military injury. These 2 programs play a big role in patients with disabilities lives.
The Special Olympics date back all the way to the year 1968. Many see these Games as a time to honor someone who is able to “overcome” a task, but author William Peace sees this as an insulting portrayal of people with disabilities. Peace is a multidisciplinary school teacher and scholar that uses a wheel chair and writes about the science behind disabilities and handicaps. As a physically handicapped individual, Peace is able to observe a negative portrayal of disabled persons. In his article titled, “Slippery Slopes: Media, Disability, and Adaptive Sports,” William Peace offers his own personal insight, utilizes several statistics regarding handicaps, as well as numerous rhetorical appeals in order to communicate to the “common man”
This publication was printed with the generous support of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
Historically, we have been taught that people with disabilities are different and do not belong among us, because they are incompetent, cannot contribute to society or that they are dangerous. We’re still living with the legacy of people with disabilities being segregated, made invisible, and devalued. The messages about people with disabilities need to be changed. There needs to be more integration of people with disabilities into our culture to balance out the message. Because of our history of abandonment and initialization, fear and stigma impact our choices more than they would if acceptance, community integration, and resources were a bigger part of our history.
Downing, J. E., & Peckham-Hardin, K. D. (2007). Inclusive Education: What Makes It a Good Education for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities?. Research and Practice for Persons With Severe Disabilities (RPSD), 32(1), 16-30.
Outdoor On-Land and Water Activities in UK I have compiled a detailed report based on two outdoor adventure activities, one land-based and one water-based. Within the report I have looked at a number of aspects: · What is meant by outdoor adventure activities and those that are available within the UK and in my local area · The benefits of the two activities and; · The participants involved within it · The role of national governing bodies and regulatory bodies in outdoor adventure activities What are Outdoor Adventure Activities (OAA's)? Outdoor adventure activities can be categorised into 3 main areas (only 2 of which I will look into further): · Water based activities (such as windsurfing and sailing) · Land based activities (such as skiing and caving) · Air based activities (parachuting and hand gliding) - these activities will generally be too expensive for us to participate in during school. * The spider diagram above gives examples of various OAA's that we could partake in. [IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE] Benefits Table
Persons with disabilities encounter countless environmental and societal barriers which affect their daily lives. There is numerous definitions worldwide and in Canada for the term “disability”, and debates about who is considered a person with a disability. Winkler gives an elaborate definition of this term which will be used to define disability throughout this paper. Above and beyond the general definition, Winkler states “Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others” (2009, p. 329). Winkler mentions that in addition
Therapists gave much attention to functional outcomes for normal tasks. Activities of daily living (ADLs) were very important goals for amputee patients so that they could have as much control over their lives and independence as possible (Dillingham, T. R. (2002). . This had a profound effect on their mental healing as well as physical. The Fitzsimons General Hospital even had an unusual therapeutic intervention where the amputee patients would participate in skiing. Using special assistive equipment, over 100 amputee soldiers were able to ski (Dillingham, T. R. (2002) . This opened a door that not only grew the patients’ confidence but encouraged them to continue to push beyond their perceived boundaries and participate in aquatic and other leisure activities. This program dedicated treatment to more than just the physical healing, and focused on patient healing as a whole (Dillingham, T. R.
Are you ever satisfied when you do something and do not receive the results you want? I know you are not and nobody is. Everyone wants improvement in the world and people are happy and satisfied when everything is right. This concept can be applied to the world of physical education in today’s society. Obesity has slowly become one of the most problematic diseases that exist in the United States and the world today. The U.S. has been greatly impacted by this disease and more and more people in today’s society are overweight, unhealthy, and out of shape. Everyone knows that this issue needs to be fixed but in order to fix a problem you need to discover where the problem comes from. Many people blame food companies, which sell unhealthy food to people; others blame the media for promoting things such as junk food or video games. Other people blame the physical education systems in schools. Many people believe that physical education is not doing enough to help children and younger generations develop healthier habits. There is no doubt that society needs to change from being unhealthy and overweight to physically active and healthy, but many changes need to be done in society to do so, and making adjustments to physical education must be done.
Disability sports was initially created to help rehabilitate war veterans, since then it has become extremely popular and occurs across the globe. Historically, disability sports has not received very much attention, to this day it is taken less seriously than sports played by able-bodied athletes (DePauw). This calls for a change, disability sports should be taken more seriously because it brings awareness to disability, forces those able-bodied to redefine its outlook on disability, and encourages those disabled to accept and think positively about their disability despite the standards set by society.