Outdoor Recreation
Season 2
Episode 2: Outdoor Recreation
What We Learned About Outdoor Recreation
We learned: that Texas, and Austin in particular, has many outdoor recreational opportunities for people with disabilities.
Paragliding is an accessible adventure sport for people with disabilities, as shown by video of Gene paragliding in Switzerland though there are several places to paraglide in Texas including Paraglide Texas http://www.paraglidetexas.com/ which is right here in Austin.
Camps Aranzazu
Camps Aranzazu http://www.camparanzazu.org is one of several camps in Texas for people with disabilities. It is located in Rockport, Texas. This camp is run by Tammie Shelton who is also a dive buddy for scuba divers with disabilities.
Another Texas camp that serves children with special needs
http://www.candlelightranch.org/
Candlelight Ranch
6408 Muleshoe Bend Trail
Marble Falls, TX 78654
Accessible Family Fun Park
http://www.morganswonderland.com/index.html
Morgan’s Wonderland
5223 David Edwards Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78233
e-mail info@morganswonderland.com
Tall Ship Sailing Adventures for All
The Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST), is a registered charity that owns and operates Lord Nelson and Tenacious, the only two tall ships in the world designed and built to enable people of all physical abilities to sail side-by-side as equals. See http://www.jst.org.uk/ Gene recounts his adventure on the Tenacious http://www.genosplace.org/tns2/Tenacious2.html
Inventure
Inventure is a wheelchair accessible Trimaran. See Gene’s adventure aboard the Inventure http://www.genosplace.org/Inventure/Inventure.html Trevor, who has quadriplegia, had the Inventure built so that he can operate it independently from his wheelchair. The sails are airfoils, like an airplane wing turned on its side. He can use his computer to maneuver the airfoils to change speed and/or direction. The Inventure has since been sold and is no longer operated by Trevor.
Scuba Diving
Scuba Diving is an adventure sport enjoyed by many folks with disabilities.
In Austin, Texas check out the Eels on Wheels. If you’re living outside of Austin, just Google “adaptive diving”.
Austin Eels on Wheels
Adaptive Scuba Club
Oceanic Expeditions
Thanks to George Cummings and of Austin, TX for his excellent scuba video which is an example of his educational and informational body of work. See http://www.oceanicexpeditions.org
Sky Diving
See http://www.skydivesanmarcos.com/
Sky diving is a dangerous, adventure sport enjoyed by some folks with disabilities. Participate at your own risk.
Bridge Swing/Bungy Jumping
Gene posted his Bridge Swinging and Bungy Jumping story at his web site, http://www.genosplace.org/SA/BungeeJumping/Bungy.html
Closer to Home
For recreational opportunities in and around Austin, be sure to check out Seton Brain and Spine below or Google “adaptive sports Austin”.
NCPAD.org
http://www.ncpad.org/index.php
The mission of the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) is to promote substantial health benefits that can be gained from participating in regular physical activity. The slogan of NCPAD is Exercise is for EVERY body, and every person can gain some health benefit from being more physically active. This site provides information and resources that can enable people with disabilities to become as physically active as they choose to be. E-mail us ncpad@uic.edu. Call Monday through Friday at: 1-800-900-8086 (voice and TTY)
Team Everest ‘03
Team Everest ’03 was sponsored by the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities (http://www.cotwd.org/). Some pictures and stories about Gene’s Mt. Everest adventure can be found at the Team Everest ’03 web site. (http://www.teameverest03.org/). Gene have a personal page on the Team web site at http://www.teameverest03.org/challenge_team/grodgers.html and on his web site http://www.genosplace.org/Everest2/Everest2.html) on the Team Everest adventure. See the documentary and buy the DVD about our journey Team Everest – the movie
Kayaking
The Seton Brain and Spine department sponsors Kayaking as well as other sports for their Super Sports Saturday program which includes wheelchair basketball, floor hockey, indoor wheelchair soccer, and scuba diving. Contact Larry Turner at LTurner19@austin.rr.com or his work phone, 512- 324-7000 ext. 82231.
Outdoor Recreation as Paralympic Sports
Some sports we think of as recreation are paralympic events. We understand that all the activities of the paralympics are Webcast online by a Canadian TV company. We know that was true for the opening ceremonies. Here is the link: http://paralympicsport.tv