Chapter 17
Recreation
Recreation! What images or ideas come to mind when you hear that word? Water or snow skiing? Camping? Catching a movie with a friend? How about playing basketball, gardening, or just reading a book?
Look at your life and think about all the recreation-activities you have done. Some you have enjoyed and have made a part of your day-to-day life, like exercising, playing cribbage, playing a musical instrument, or sewing. Other activities may cause you to wait in anticipation until the season or opportunity is there, such as snow skiing, rock climbing, fishing, or traveling. Each of us has a unique set of recreation or leisure interests. Simply, the recreation activities you do REFLECT WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU!
Leisure activities have many meanings in our life. Our recreation allows us to express ourselves, release tension, master skills, meet people, and improve our health. Furthermore, we need these activities to experience risk and challenges, be exposed to new ideas, experience accomplishments, and build pride. Most importantly, through our leisure we are able to relax and have fun! Each of us discovers these benefits in the recreation we choose to do. These activities become a menu of options that become your leisure lifestyle.
Remember that your leisure is something you freely choose to do. There are days when you fill your free time with a great deal of action. Then there are other days when you simply feel like laying on the couch and watching TV. That is okay. The intent of this chapter is to motivate you to feel the freedom of expressing your leisure time as you choose. This chapter will provide information, answer questions, and identify resources that will assist you towards that goal.
BEGINNINGS
While you are in the hospital, you will have the opportunity to explore how leisure fits into your life. Recreation or leisure might be the last things on your mind right now. However, relax. There will be plenty of time. As you progress in your rehabilitation, you may have opportunities to participate in recreation or recreation therapy programs within the hospital and out into the community. Give them a try.
Programs within the hospital will allow you to enjoy an activity that you have an interest in. These will also be programs that are designed to support the skills or strengthen that you are focusing on in the other therapies. Playing a Monopoly™ game with other patients or family or developing a hobby such as building car models can provide necessary stress relief and add some fun during a very difficult time. But these activities also can help build hand function, endurance, and other benefits that support your recovery. Give these opportunities a chance: recreation can really help.
Community activities are essential to your rehabilitation. The thought of going out of the hospital may seem very scary at first. These feelings are very important, do not minimize them. However, do not let these feelings stop you. You may have the opportunity to go out to eat, to the movies, to a sporting event, or perhaps home. These outings will help you discover your strengths, learn about accessibility, develop wheelchair skills, and have fun. The first outings may be difficult, but they will get easier.
One final note before we move on. Remember that your recreational interests are a part of you. Try not to cross important interests off your list because you think you cannot do them anymore. Give yourself time to heal and to get stronger. You will soon discover that what you think may not be possible right now, actually is. Be patient with yourself and don’t give up!
GETTING INVOLVED
Step one is to figure out what is important. As we have stated, look back at your life and make a list of all the activities you enjoy doing. Include on the list recreation activities that you have also dreamed of trying, like scuba diving or flying. Again, avoid making decisions now about what you think is not possible. These options will show you what is important for you to make a part of your life.
The second step is to look at your strengths and areas that you may need support. Has your injury affected your mobility, the way you get around? Are you using a wheelchair, or perhaps a walker, a cane, or nothing at all? How much strength and coordination do you have in your arms and hands? Has your vision or hearing been affected? Are people available to provide assistance if you need it to participate in the activity? How have your endurance and stamina been affected? Talk with your therapists and doctors and get a clear idea. It is important for you to understand the extent of the impact that your injury has had on you. This way you know what skills to rely on and the others that need to be developed or worked around. Remember, life is a journey. You will discover new capabilities along the way that you did not think were possible.
The final step is to just do it! The remainder of the chapter will discuss accessible recreation and resources. However, an important consideration is that the first time you attempt anything is the hardest. Initial comments and feelings from others in your position are that, "I can’t do this anymore because I have a spinal cord injury". Or "I have done enough, I don’t need to do it anymore". Write these feelings down. The first time that you try an activity that you have done for years like going to the movies, shooting skeet, playing billiards, or even playing ball with a son or daughter may be challenging at first. But keep at it. In six months, you can look back and congratulate yourself on how far you have come.
ACCESSIBLE RECREATION
Accessible recreation has come about from people like you wanting to be active and break down the barriers. Accessible recreation is simply making a leisure activity possible. This is accomplished through adaptive equipment and sometimes finding a new way to approach the activity.
Adaptive equipment helps an individual overcome limitations, such as altered mobility or hand function. If you enjoy downhill skiing, there are skis known as mono-ski or bi-ski. Which one you use will depend on your level of sitting balance, strength, and skill. A mono-ski is simply a ski designed with a bucket type seat with shock absorbers and a strut attached to a single ski. A person uses ski poles or poles that are modified to add grip or support. You may start out with an instructor tethered to you and work up to using the ski independently on the steepest runs. A bi-ski is designed for a person with less sitting balance and strength. The seat is similar, yet another ski is added at the base for additional support and stability.
The British Colombia Disabled Sailing Association of Canada was started by a group of people who wanted to sail. They developed a sailboat that can be modified for anyone who has a desire to sail independently. They have even designed controls that are completely hands free using sip-and-puff technology that interfaces with an autohelm. The individual is able to use the rudder, sail controls, and even an emergency radio. Skin protection is accomplished through just turning the boat or tacking. Once the person learns to sail, the level of injury doesn’t matter. Success is measured on how well the person reads the wind.
Adaptive equipment is not designed to make an activity easier; it is to allow you to get involved. For example, people with quadriplegia who have a loss of strength and coordination in their arms and hands still enjoy hunting using lighter rifles, shooting stands, and trigger extensions. If their mobility is affected, hunters use 4-wheel all-terrain vehicles or horses to get into the backcountry. They find a way.
There are many types of sports wheelchairs. Basketball, tennis, and quad rugby wheelchairs are designed very similar to day-to-day wheelchairs. However, the position you play will determine the type of design you use. If you want to move fast but be able to turn quickly with more stability, you may choose a wheelchair with greater camber or angle of the wheels. There are sports frames that are lighter but stronger, making it difficult for someone to block you. Sports wheelchairs are also designed to support an individual’s seating, posture, and skin protection, as your day-to-day wheelchair does, while allowing you to be competitive in that sport.
Sports have also become more competitive and accessible through equipment development and subtle rule changes. Tennis allows a person in a wheelchair an extra bounce and use of the doubles lines. Basketball teams are made up of a variety of individuals with different strengths. Each player is evaluated and given a rating. A team can put on the court at any time only players whose ratings add up to a certain point value. In this way, the team must coordinate each other’s strengths while supporting each other. This way the teams are equal. Track and field have developed lightweight racers and throwing stands. This equipment allows athletes to go faster and accomplish more.
Know the extent to which your spinal cord injury has affected you. Challenge yourself to do as much as you can. If you enjoy bowling, try a regular ball, then a handleball or push stick before using a bowling ramp. Try an activity without any adaptive equipment first. You may find that you have more strength than you give yourself credit for.
To enjoy recreational activities, you do not have to recreate the wheel. There are many resources out there to provide information, equipment, and opportunities to help get you involved. How do you find this help? First, start a resource file of information that you discover. Write the information and contact numbers in an address book, develop a card file, or computer program. Keep track and update the information. Include information that you might not use until later or that may be helpful to someone else.
Where to look? You may be surprised to find out that resources may be just around the corner. Look in the Yellow Pages under Recreation. Contact your local YMCA or YWCA, community centers, parks and recreation departments for information on events or organizations. Call local rehabilitation professionals and find out if there are organizations that they know about, or if they could refer you to other people with disabilities. Peers are a terrific resource to let you know what’s happening or provide support.
Colleges and community centers offer classes that are a terrific way to start increasing your activity. Take a cooking class, learn a language, find out about a different culture and plan a trip. Parks and recreation programs, churches, veterans and community organizations also offer classes and programs. Get involved in local government. These could also be ways to meet people. Try something different.
Listed at the end of the chapter are sports and outdoor recreation resources. These organizations have been very successful at developing equipment and resources that support greater independence and opportunities. An example is the Association of Disabled American Golfers. They have helped create accessible carts that support mobility on a course as well as have special seating. These carts can support a person’s lack of balance and limited positioning to be able to hit a golf ball. They can go into sand traps and even on the greens without damaging the course. The organization has also worked toward developing special grass that is not damaged by wheelchairs. In effect, the Association of Disabled American Golfers and others like it have opened doors that were previously shut to people with disabilities. Call them, they can get you information on equipment, events, rules, or even people in your area who are involved in that sport.
Look in bookstores under Outdoor Recreation and Sports. You can find terrific sources for ideas. Do not feel like you can only find information to help you in disabled sports resources. Each sport has a magazine promoting opportunities and equipment. You can get terrific ideas from these resources. Be creative!
The internet is also an invaluable resource. Look up information under key terms. If you want information on, say, tennis, try: tennis, wheelchair tennis, or adaptive tennis. To effectively find information, you have to approach your search from different angles.
Remember that your recreation is a very important part of your life. Get involved and have an adventure. Try something new and involve a friend. Be patient and begin by setting small goals. Have fun! Recreation is great medicine.
RESOURCES
Sports Organizations
Amputee Sports
Disabled Sports USA
451 Hungerford Drive, Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 217-0960
www.dsusa.org
Archery
Wheelchair Archery, USA*
c/o Wheelchair Archery, U.S.A.
3595 E. Fountain Boulevard, Suite L-1
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
(719) 574-1150
Basketball
Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association
1600 James Naismith Drive
Gloucester, Ontario K1 B 5N4
Canada
(613) 841-1824
www.cwba.ca
International Wheelchair Basketball Federation
142 Villa Maria Lane
Hazelwood, MO 63042-1646
(314) 209-9006
National Wheelchair Basketball Association*
710 Queensbury Loop
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 654-4315
www.nwba.org
Billiards
National Wheelchair Poolplayers Association
30872 Puritan Street
Livonia, MI 48154-3253
(734] 422-2124
www.bca-pool.com
Bowling
America Wheelchair Bowling Association
6264 N. Andrews Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
(954) 491-2886
www.awba.org
Flying
Freedom’s Wings International
1832 Lake Avenue
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
(908) 232-6354
International Wheelchair Aviators
P.O. Box 2799
Big Bear City, CA 92314
(909) 585-9663
www.wheelchairaviators.com
Football
Universal Wheelchair Football Association
U.C. Raymond Walters College
Disability Services Office
9555 Plainfield Road
Cincinnati, OH 45236-1096
(513) 792-8625
www.rwc.uc.edu/kraimer/pagel.htm
Golf
Association of Disabled American Golfers
P.O. Box 2647
Littleton, CO 80161-2647
(303) 738-1675
email: adag@usga.org
www.adag.com
Handcycling
Crank Chair Racing Association
1808 Maude Street
Stockton, CA 95206
(209) 982-9093
www.snowcrest.net/crankrace
United States Handcyclicg Federation
3595 E. Fountain Boulevard, Suite L-1
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
(831) 457-7747
www.ushf.org
Hockey
America Sled Hockey Association
21 Summerwood Court
Buffalo, NY 14223
(716) 876-7390
www.sledhockey.org
Horseback Riding
American Competition Opportunities for Riders with Disabilities (ACORD), Inc.
5303 Falter Road
San Jose, CA 95132
(408) 261-2015
North American Riding for the Handicapped Association
P.O. Box 33150
Denver, CO 80233
(800) 369-RIDE
www.narha.org
Multisport
Casa Colina Adaptive Sports and Outdoor Adventures
2850 N. Garey Avenue
Pomona, CA 91767
(909) 596-7733
www.casacolina.org
Disabled Sports USA
451 Hungerford Drive, Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 217-0960
www.dsusa.org
United States Cerebral Palsy Athletic Association, Inc.
25 W. Independence Way
Kingston, RI 02881
(401) 874-7465
www.uscpaa.org
Wheelchair Sports, U.S.A.
3595 E. Fountain Boulevard, Suite L-1
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
(719) 574-1150
World T.E.A.M. Sports
2108 South Boulevard, Suite 101
Charlotte, NC 28203
(704) 370-6070
www.worldteamsports.org
Quad Sports
Power Soccer Bay Area Outreach Recreation Program (BORP)
830 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 849-4663
www.borp.org
United States Quad Rugby Association
5861 White Cypress Drive
Lake Worth, FL 33467
(561) 964-1712
www.quadrugby.com
Racquet Sports
International Tennis Federation (Wheelchair Tennis Department)
Bank Lane
Roehampton London SWI 5 5XZ, England
(011) 44-181-878-6464
www.itftennis.com
United States Tennis Association
70 W. Red Oak Lane
White Plains, NY 10604
(914) 696-7000
Recreation
National Handicap Motorcyclist Association
404 Maple Avenue
Upper Nyack, NY 10960
(914) 353-0747
National Park Service
1849 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20240
(202) 208-6843
www.nps.gov
Golden Access Passport and information on national parks for people with disabilities.
Turning POINT (Paraplegics On Independent Nature Trips)
4144 N. Central Expressway, Suite 130
Dallas, TX 75204
(214) 827-7404
Road Racing
Wheelchair Track and Field-USA (WTFUSA)*
2351 Parkwood Road
Snellville, GA 30039
(770) 972-0763
www.wsusa.org
Shooting
National Wheelchair Shooting Federation*
102 Park Avenue
Rockledge, PA 19046
(215) 379-2359
NRA Disabled Shooting Services
11250 Waples Mill Road
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 267-1495
Skiing
Disabled Sports USA
451 Hungerford Drive, Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 217-0960
www.dsusa.org
Ski For Life, Inc.
1400 Carole Lane
Green Bay, WI 54313
(920) 494-5572
US Disabled Alpine Ski Team
PO Box 100
Park City, UT 84060
(801) 649-9090
Softball
National Wheelchair Softball Association
1616 Todd Court
Hastings, MN 55033
(651) 437-1792
www.wheelchairsoftball.com
Table Tennis
American Wheelchair Table Tennis Association*
23 Parker Street
Port Chester, NY 10573
(914) 937-3932
Track & Field
Wheelchair Track and Field-USA (WTFUSA)*
2351 Parkwood Road
Snellville, GA 30039
(770) 972-0763
www.wsusa.org
Water Sports/Recreation
Access to Sailing
6475 E. Pacific Coast Highway
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 499-6925
America Canoe Association
7432 Alban Station Boulevard, Suite B-232
Springfield, VA 22150
(703) 451-0141
Handicapped Scuba Association
1104 El Prado
San Clemente, CA 92672
(949) 498-6128
U.S. Rowing Association
201 S. Capitol Avenue, Suite 400
Indianapolis, IN 46225
(317) 237-5656
www.usrowing.org
U.S. Wheelchair Swimming, Inc.
c/o Wheelchair Sports U.S.A.
3595 E. Fountain Boulevard, Suite L-1
Colorado Springs, CO 80910
(719) 574-1150
www.wsusa.org
Water Skiers with Disabilities Association
U.S. Water Ski
799 Overlook Drive
Winter Haven, FL 33884
(800) 533-2972
www.usawaterski.org
Weightlifting
United States Wheelchair Weightlifting Federation*
39 Michael Place
Levittown, PA 19057
(215) 945-1964
www.wsusa.org
Magazines
Sports’n Spokes and PN/Paraplegia News
2111 East Highland Avenue, Suite 180
Phoenix, AZ 85016-4702
(888) 888-2201
Don Krebs Access to Recreation
PO Box 5072
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359
(800) 634-4351
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Recreation