Rethinking Disability & Accessibility for a More Inclusive Outdoors
Accessibility means more than ADA. What makes you feel welcome in outdoor spaces? When you visit a new park, how do you know that people want you to be there, that you belong?
In the world of outdoor recreation, equity means that all people have the opportunity to enjoy meaningful, empowering outdoor recreation experiences, regardless of their ability level. In 2008, more than a quarter of Oregonians identified as having a disability. That’s a massive percentage of our neighbors, friends, colleagues, and fellow recreators who can feel left out when public lands aren’t accessible or welcoming to them. While not every place can be accessible to all people, that doesn’t mean all people shouldn’t have ample opportunities to glide across the water, ski down a mountain, hunt, fish, or meditate in the serene stillness of nature.
This Toolkit is designed to help land managers understand how people with disabilities engage with the outdoors and what they want out of those experiences, It offers recommendations and best practices for how to transform public lands in ways that are truly inclusive. By developing an inclusive equity lens that takes into account all shades and forms of disability, making commitments to center equity in planning and programming, and thinking about someone’s holistic experience on your land, you can help open up your spaces to your entire community in ways that honor and celebrate diversity
Attached document published October 2020
Willamette Partnership is a conservation non-profit with a deep commitment to helping build stronger, healthier, and more equitable communities that are sustained by nature. We believe that people need nature and that the well-being of communities and natural systems is inextricably linked. Communities don’t have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment.
The Trail Access Project Removes Barriers to the Outdoors
posted Feb 11, 2022
Their goal is to facilitate the removal of barriers to recreational trail usage through providing information, increasing accessible features, and supporting park managers in making changes.
Accessibility in the National Park Service
posted Feb 5, 2020
While notable advancements have been made, much is needed to break down the barriers and embrace greater inclusivity. Parks, programs, and leaders across the service need more education, guidance, support, and resources to create more welcoming experiences for a broad spectrum of audiences.
posted Feb 5, 2020
The purpose of the study was to identify the perceptions of people with disabilities relative to program and physical accessibility in the National Park Service.
Children’s Center Trail Project Breaks Down Barriers
posted Apr 3, 2018
This trail includes sections made of different materials that can teach children with disabilities how to maneuver on surfaces such as rubber, pea gravel, mulch, boardwalk decking, and concrete pavers.
367 views • posted 02/24/2024
