Scuba diving changed David Haggard’s life.
For years he was anonymous–resigned to sitting in a wheelchair, passing time. He can no longer write; his speech is slurred. A form of muscular dystrophy makes it too hard to walk. But on that summer day in 1995 when he surfaced from the warm waters off the Florida Keys, anything seemed possible.
Like Haggard, greater numbers of mobility-impaired people are venturing into the great outdoors. Trekking through South African safari lands. Sailing the Caribbean. Rappelling down rock faces in Australia or skiing the Colorado Rockies.
“In the past 25 years, people with disabilities have begun to lead much more active lifestyles,” says Greg Lais, executive director of Wilderness Inquiry, a Minnesota-based company that offers more than 120 accessible outdoor adventure trips a year.
“When we first started doing this, people thought we were crazy,” Lais says. “They thought people with disabilities should be kept inside with a straitjacket on so they didn’t hurt themselves. Now, there’s a greater awareness in society and a greater awareness among people with disabilities.”
Travelers with disabilities are no minor niche: The Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality estimates mobility-impaired people spent $13.6 billion on vacations in 2002. (Figures for 2003, which will be released this year, are expected to be even higher.)
Adventure travel is part of that growing market. Worldwide, more companies are adapting excursions to include mobility-impaired people or creating challenging trips specifically for them. And the world, like never before, is open to anyone who wants to explore it.
The National Ability Center in Park City, Utah, has seen enrollment in its recreation programs explode in the past decade. In 1992, the center offered 3,370 courses to disabled clients. In 2003, the center offered 19,413 courses. It’s the same growth seen by Wilderness Inquiry, the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC) in Colorado and other similar groups.
“There’s a broader world out there than there used to be,” says Bob Bond, wilderness program director with the BOEC. “More people are becoming aware that [these] programs exist. So, there are more people taking advantage of more services.”
The BOEC grew out of the efforts of a small group of volunteers. In 1976, they took gear from their closets, along with food that had been donated, to bring the outdoors to a handful of mobility-impaired adventurers.
The non-profit center, nestled on 39 acres in the Colorado high country, is a low-key boot camp, offering adventure training camps and trips for people with disabilities. Often, it’s their first taste of outdoor recreation.
“It’s very inspiring to see someone with a very limited range of motion or one arm or one leg climbing up a rock wall,” says Bob Bond, who has worked at the BOEC for nine years. “You can’t help but get excited when you see them get more of a range of motion here than their physical therapist got at the office.”
Among the peaks and pines rests a climbing wall, access to adaptive skiing and snowboarding courses, cabins and tepees. Rafts, canoes and sea kayaks are available for nearby waterways.
It’s here that lives change.
A paraplegic child takes on the high rope course.
A blind woman carves some fresh powder on a ski slope.
A stroke victim without hope embraces small victories.
In November 2000, Joe McIntyre suffered a stroke. “I received the last rites,” he said. “I was in the hospital for three months. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move my right arm or right leg.
“I decided I was going to go to Colorado to die.”
Instead, it’s been the place where he’s learned to live.
“To find the will to climb a wall that’s 30 feet tall . . .,” McIntyre says, his voice trailing off. “But I did it.”
The 59-year-old former stockbroker from Summit County, Colo., learned about the BOEC through a friend. Now he’s a frequent visitor, showing other people with disabilities what can be accomplished. In June, he participated in the center’s Brain Injury Association Camp. “The training you get is unbelievable,” he says. “Every one of those people are tremendous because they’re trying to live.”
As with any outdoor recreation, there are risks. But people with disabilities need to be more aware of their limitations. People with spinal-cord injuries, for example, often lose sensation and must take care to protect their skin. Pressure sores from sitting in a boat too long, sunburns and hypothermia are always dangers. Hydration, eating schedules, medication–the list goes on.
“We try to minimize risks as much as we can,” says Bond, of the BOEC. “For example, if you are dealing with a quadriplegic that you are taking rafting, you don’t want them falling out of the boat. You take precautions.”
Still, the idea of outdoor adventure may seem a bigger risk than many people with disabilities– and their families–are willing to take.
“Often, the first step in getting out is to realize that a person with a disability shouldn’t be precluded from participating in an outdoor adventure,” says Lais, of Wilderness Inquiry. He adds that it’s best to start with small, manageable outings to build confidence and skill.
“When I think of safety, I don’t think of it in terms of someone using a wheelchair. I think of it in terms of judgment,” he says. “Good judgment limits injuries, no matter what ability level. I’ve seen more able-bodied people twist an ankle than someone with a disability getting hurt.”
Twenty-seven years ago, Erin Broadbent broke her neck in a diving accident. The injury confined her to a wheelchair but didn’t confine her spirit of adventure. In 1989, as part of a Wilderness Inquiry trip, she went rappelling–in her wheelchair–down a rock face above the Snowy River in Australia. She has also gone rappelling in the Grand Canyon–that time strapped in a sit-down body harness (the method she prefers, because she has more control).
“Someone in a chair needs to experience things just like anybody else,” the Blacksburg, S.C., resident says. “We’re gonna fall down just like anybody else, but that’s how we learn to do things.”
Lais of Wilderness Inquiry says: “Because some people have disabilities, others think our trips are going to be soft. And they’re not.”
Wilderness Inquiry’s longest expedition–a 750-mile, 28-day canoe trip on the Porcupine River across north central Alaska –is anything but soft. The group brings adaptive gear as needed–wheelchairs, special flotation devices–and little else. Minimalist camping, unpredictable weather and no civilization awaits.
Epic Enabled, a South African travel company, offers an eight-day safari tour every month. The company is outfitted with oversized A-frame tents and a special Mercedes truck with hydraulic lifts. The tour begins in Johannesburg and includes three days in Kruger National Park, one of the world’s best state-owned safari grounds.
Ships in the United Kingdom’s Jubilee Sailing Trust fleet have wide decks, signs in Braille and a speaking compass. The specially designed tall ships even enable chair-bound passengers to ascend the masts during year-round voyages to U.S., Caribbean and European destinations.
Skiing may seem an unlikely sport for mobility-impaired athletes, but adaptive equipment can overcome almost any disability. Integrated Outdoor Adventures, offered by the non-profit Colorado Discover Ability, offers inexpensive ski lessons for people with amputations or even spinal injuries. Based in western Colorado’s Powderhorn Resort, it uses an inventory of adaptive equipment, including four-track, three-track and mono-skis, to get people on the slopes.
In the past five years, trip rates for adventurers with disabilities have begun to compare favorably with mainstream prices. Donations, grants and scholarships also help defray costs.
Handicapped Scuba Association International, for example, has a September trip to the reefs of Bonaire, an island 50 miles off the Venezuelan coast. The price is $1,100–a respectable price for any diving package. Divers get a seven-night stay at the Flamingo Beach Resort, three guided boat dives a day, unlimited shore diving, round-trip airport transfers, and breakfasts and lunches.
David Haggard was 15 when his muscles started to ignore him. Doctors told him he had a neuromuscular disorder that had lain dormant since birth.
“I fought it,” Haggard says. “I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair, so I struggled for a long time, probably a lot longer than I should have.” He held out for 19 years.
“At 34 it just became real hard to walk,” Haggard, now 48, says. “I had to face the fact that it was just easier moving around in a wheelchair and that God would still love me.”
Haggard found some solace among others with disabilities.
“Once a year a bunch of us gimps invade a lake and have a party to find out what’s new,” Haggard says. “[One year] they were giving out a bunch of door prizes and I won a free scuba certification class. I always wanted to try it and the price was right, so I thought, `why not?'”
The door prize would introduce Haggard to Handicapped Scuba Association International.
It was almost 10 years ago that Haggard made his first dive off the Florida Keys.
The blue, thick water seemed bottomless as he submerged.
“Your brain is telling you `I’m under water and I’m supposed to die.’ But you are breathing,” Haggard says. “Your brain has to adjust.”
Underneath the blue murk, he discovered a dark, otherworldly environment where fish are colored like party favors and the sea floor is snowy white.
“I had been sitting on my butt for 20 years so it was kind of cool,” he says. Because of his disability, Haggard is certified as a Class B diver, meaning a Handicapped Scuba Association instructor must dive with him. “But ABs aren’t so bad,” he says, referring to his nickname for able-bodied people.
Haggard has more than 50 dives to his credit. He’s been diving off the coast of Belize, Honduras and Florida. He even has been cave diving in Mexico. “Scuba diving is like a beautiful woman,” he says. “I couldn’t help but fall in love with it.”
The ocean brings a euphoric weightlessness. No longer is Haggard’s body fighting gravity. For the first time in two decades, he is free.
“People with disabilities often say, `I can’t do things,’ but I’m out there showing people that you can,” Haggard says. “I’m living. I’m having fun. Yes you can; yes you can do this. Go live.”
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IF YOU GO
ACCESSIBLE TRIPS
Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center. Designs programs for individuals and groups, including skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, white-water rafting and hiking excursions throughout Colorado, Utah and other Western states. Box 697, Breckenridge, CO 80424; 970-453-6422; www.boec.org
Colorado Discover Ability’s Integrated Outdoor Adventures: Wide range of adaptive skiing and snowboarding programs at Colorado’s Powderhorn Ski Resort. 552 Jurassic Court, Fruita, CO 81521; 970-858-0200 (970-268-5700 ext. 2037 after Dec. 1); www.cdaioa.com
Disabled Adventure Outfitters: Whitewater rafting, fishing, ATV hiking trips and more throughout the U.S. Box 152, Arcata, CA 95518; 707-822-1101; www.specialadventures.org
Endeavour Safaris: Safari treks through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia. 23 Lark Crescent, Flamingo Vlei, Tableview 7441, Cape Town, South Africa; 011-27-21-556-6114; www.endeavour-safaris.com
Epic Enabled: Accessible camping and adventure safaris in Southern Africa. 14 Clovelly Road, Fish Hoek 7975, South Africa; 27-0-21-782-9575; www.epic-enabled.com
Handicapped Scuba Association International: Scuba training, certification and dive excursions throughout the world, including a 20th anniversary trip Sept. 12-19 to Bonaire. 1104 El Prado, San Clemente, CA 92672-4637; 949-498-4540; www.hsascuba.com
Jubilee Sailing Trust: Adventure sailing holidays, including tours of Antigua, Baltimore to Boston, and a month-long trans-Atlantic voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Southhampton, Great Britain. Hazel Road, Woolston, Soton SO19 7, Great Britain; 011-44-0-870-443-5781; www.jst.org.uk
Wilderness Inquiry: Offers nearly 120 excursions a year from sea kayaking the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest to dogsledding in Minnesota’s North Woods. 808 14th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414; 612-676-9400 or 800-728-0719; www.wildernessinquiry.org
OTHER RESOURCES
Access Sport America: 119 High St., Acton, MA 01720; 978-264-0985 or 866-457-7678; www.windsurf.org
Disabled Sports USA: 451 Hungerford Dr., Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850; 301-217-0960 (voice) or 301-217-0963 (tty); www.dsusa.org
National Sports Center for the Disabled: Winter Park, CO 80482; 970-726-1540; www.nscd.org
National Ability Center: P.O. Box 682799, Park City, Utah 84068; 435-649-3991
Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality: 347 5th Ave., Suite 610, New York, NY 10016; 212-447-7284; www.sath.org
— J.D.B.
