In March of 2010, I took a trip to San Antonio, Texas for a conference with the National Center for Accessibility (NCA). The conference focused on Universal Design; making recreational areas accessible to not only people with disabilities, but accessible to everyone. The concept of universal design was new to me, and since we were about to install a new accessible trail, I wanted to learn more. The conference not only helped me understand the components of the trail, but I had a new vision of what to do to help make Shaver’s Creek even more universally accessible.
Fast forward to this winter, where I had the pleasure of talking to Donica Conseen, a graduate assistant at the NCA. She had seen an email that I had sent to the other participants of the conference concerning the Shaver’s Creek accessible trail being finished and wanted to do an article for the NCA website. After a couple of phone interviews and a conversation with the folks at Penn State Dirt & Gravel Roads, Donica wrote this terrific article: http://ncaonline.org/index.php?q=node/1359. Please check out the article, and find out more about the National Center for Accessibility on their website. They are a great resource for making outdoor recreation accessible to everyone.