All terrain

 

https://www.upworthy.com/georgia-all-terrain-wheelchairs-at-state-parks

Georgia USA, is making sure their parks and hiking trails are accessible to everyone. The Aimee Copeland Foundation and Georgia Department of Natural Resources have teamed up to provide a fleet of all-terrain wheelchairs in 11 of Georgia's state parks. The wheelchairs are free to use.

The chairs are able to travel through mud, sand, snow and water. Visitors with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spinal chord injuries and with lower limb amputations are qualified to use the chairs.

Georgia Parks Sites Director Jeff Cown said, "I am proud to partner with the Aimee Copeland Foundation and offer access to visitors with mobility or physical disabilities." In the video link (in the above article) different language is used; "Georgia Sate Parks are offering free all-terrain wheelchair rentals so people of all abilities can enjoy the great outdoors."

Cory Lee is a wheelchair user and travel blogger who has covered accessible adventures throughout the world. but has never been able to explore his home town of Georgia until now, He says the chairs are life changing, giving people more independence through the parks.

- what is an all-terrain wheelchair? How does it work?

- Why do you think Georgia State Parks have done this?

- Is it safe for a person with cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy to be hiking? (yes with the right equipment)

- Cory Lee has covered may accessible adventures; what is an accessible adventure?

- Why might parks and hiking trails be inaccessible to some people? 

- Why does Cory Lee say the wheelchair are life-changing?

- Why has Georgia State Parks chosen to make rental of these chairs free?

- There is an interesting difference in language used by Jeff Cown and used in the video. Jeff Cown says the wheelchairs, "offer access to visitors with mobility or physical disabilities." The video says the wheelchairs are made, "so people of all abilities can enjoy the great outdoors." What do you notice about this language, which is a better use of language, why?

- In the past, people often used the term, "Wheelchair bound" to describe someone using a wheelchair,  but today people often use the term "Wheelchair user" Why do you think this language is changing?  Why does language matter? For those who do not rely on wheelchairs, they may see life in a wheelchair as limiting or restricting. Those who rely on wheelchairs know the opposite is true; wheelchair offer mobility, freedom and independence. Writing about this in 2017, Heather McCain says, "At no point in my ten years of using a wheelchair did I ever feel confined or bound. I felt free, independent and able to participate as a productive member in our society thanks to my wheelchair."  https://canbc.org/blog/proper-terminology-dont-use-confined-to-or-wheelchair-bound/#:~:text=The%20terms%20%E2%80%9Cconfined%20to%20a%20wheelchair%E2%80%9D%20and%20%E2%80%9Cwheelchair,in%20a%20wheelchair%20as%20limiting%2C%20confining%20and%20restricting.

- What can we learn from Georgia State Parks?

- Why is this about No Outsiders?

No Outsiders: Everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat

www.no-outsiders.com