Hiking "R" Mountain Blind

I learned a lot hiking R Mountain blind. 

1. It is sooo much easier to follow someones voice rather than their instructions.                  

      ("Turn right. No Left! Lefter!! *crash*") 

2. People are helpful. Shoutout to the random guy who helped talk me up the steep bit. I had no idea who you are but your voice was quite pleasant. 

3. Being blind makes you quite aware of sound and smell and unfortunately the cold. 

4. That Chain though!! Sooo nice

5. R Mt. is accessible to the blind as proven by the blind version of me. 

6. Although we try to make as many recreations available to all disabilities I couldn't really justify why I was hiking if I couldn't see the view. I would keep in mind how much enjoyment you can really get out of an activity with certain  disabilities. 

Inspiration Porn and the Objectification of Disability

Stella Young gave this TED talk in Sydney, Australia this year about some of the mistakes we're making concerning our expectations of disabled people. In her opinion, we are giving disabled people too much credit for "getting out of bed and remembering their own name". From her own experiences she believes that by telling disabled people awards and assigning them inspirational quotes, that we are objectifying them as people with terrible lives who are defined by their disability rather than their accomplishments. At first I was a little skeptical of her speech because it sounded harsh and biased but by the end of the speech I could see her point. What makes a man with one leg who manages to take the garbage out every day more exceptional than a physically whole man who goes to work and raises a family? I guess the point is that we all have our disabilities and obstacles to overcome but we objectify those whose disabilities are obvious. There are many sides to this debate. What's your opinion?

Gimp Monkeys

I was in love with this video from about the 0:05 second mark on. The story of these 3 guys who don't let a disability get in the way of an incredibly hard sport. They recognize that they have a disability but they can also see that everyone has a disability whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. One of the guys in the video talked about how it's all about identifying what disability you have and using it to your advantage. What kind of disabilities do you have and how can you use them?

10 Traits of a Networker

A networker must...

10. Work their network
 9. Sincerity
 8. Enjoy helping others 
 7. Gratitude
 6. Always network
 5. Good listening skills
 4. Trustworthy
 3. Enthusiasm
 2. Positive Attitude 
 1. Follow Up Referral ** Most important

Horses for Heroes

For awhile I've been interested in equine therapy, a form of recreation specially designed for those with disabilities ranging from back injuries to depression. This is a video that introduces the idea of therapeutic riding and the benifits it can have.

Fed Up

There was a documentary that came out a while ago about how sugar in our foods is killing us off at an alarming rate. Now, I know this is a little off topic from our main focus on accessible recreation, but we spend so much time talking about how to accommodate people with disabilities they can't change and none on how we could prevent the ones we can. Unfortunately the massive amount of sugars in our diets is causing obesity and type 2 diabetes in kids younger and younger each year. As the obesity levels rise it poses a major threat not only to accessible recreation but to recreation as a whole. Just some food for thought.