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Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Abstract

Traditional outdoor education and environmental interpretive facilities and programs rarely include persons with physical and cognitive disabilities and therefore do not serve a major segment of the population. This is significant when one considers that there are approximately 43 million Americans who have some form of disability (National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitative Research, 1998). Most people with disabilities attend educational and recreational programs, including interpretive programs, with family and friends (Mactavish & Schleien, 2000). If a person with a disability is discouraged from attending outdoor education and interpretive programs because of perceived lack of access or accommodation, then that person's social and family group will probably go elsewhere for outdoor experiences. This implies that not only are many of the 43 million people with disabilities lost as potential participants to outdoor and interpretive programs, but so are their family members and social groups. Therefore, the millions of people discouraged from participating in outdoor education and interpretive programs may actually be closer to 100 million potentially lost participants if programs are not accessible and inclusive.

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