Amy Rixon of the Kelly Brush Foundation, and Julia Vitale, from Vermont Crag and Petra Cliffs climbing gym join occupational therapist Catherine Armani-Munn. They talk about the various options for outdoor and indoor recreation for Vermonters with disabilities.
A full transcript appears below.
Catherine Armani-Munn: Yeah. (chuckles) All right, well, welcome to the Green Mountain Disability Stories. I am Catherine Armani-Munn, I am an occupational therapist, a statewide consultant with the i-Team and also director of PedsPro Vermont with the CDCI.
And I have two lovely ladies with me here this morning that are going to talk about their lives in Vermont and what great things they bring to our Vermont community. So Amy, why don’t you
introduce yourself first?
Amy Rixon: Yeah, I’m Amy. I’m a lifelong Vermonter, third generation to graduate from my high school up north in Franklin County. I have been recreating in Vermont my entire life, skiing was a primary sport for me, and then some water skiing as a kid. I am technically an occupational therapist and I just love adaptive sports and recreation.
So a couple years ago, I finally made the switch to be full-time employed in the field of adaptive recreation, and I currently work for the Kelly Brush Foundation. I have so much fun just helping people get active and enjoy the outdoors here in Vermont and then across the country as well. And having fun is the number one most important thing to me.
Catherine: Well, I can’t wait to hear more about that. And Julia, would you mind introducing yourself?
Julia Vitale: Absolutely, my name is Julia Vitale. I use she/her pronouns. I am a speech and language pathologist with many, many different jobs that I do. I came up to Vermont in 2019 for grad school, and just loved it enough
that I never left.
So I currently work at Burlington High School as a speech and language pathologist, but I also work in a
school nursing facility, and I’m an adaptive climbing instructor and single-pitch instructor apprentice through Petra Cliffs Climbing Center Mountaineering School. And I do a lot of work with adaptive athletes both through that and
through CRAG Vermont, which is our nonprofit organization for the state. So I’m a little bit of everywhere.
Catherine: Amazing, you really are, that’s wonderful. So today I would love to hear more about the adaptive sports
that you are both kind of working on in Vermont so our listeners can hear more about that. I don’t know who wants to go first. We can just kind of chat about it.
Julia: I can go first. So I primarily work with adaptive sports through rock climbing. That’s what I do through
Petra and through CRAG. And we have been actively building our, like adaptive climbing program through Petra and trying to broaden some of the access through the state of Vermont for adaptive climbers, both through rock climbing, and hopefully in the future through ice climbing.
So that’s kind of where I, you know, work primarily and try to get adaptive athletes outdoors and open up access indoors for multiple different programs.
Catherine: So can any ages access this program?
Julia: Yeah, so we work with a variety of athletes that range from as young as like, I think right now I’m working
with as young as five, and then adults that are, you know, all the way up through their 70s. So we have a wide range of athletes that we work with and their families as well.
Catherine: Amazing. And how would someone like sign up if they were like, “Oh, I wanna go try adaptive climbing.” How would they do that?
Julia: There’s a lot of different ways. So we can primarily work with folks through Petra Cliffs, which is really great. We do private instruction, we have some group events that come through during the year for a wide range of different
like adaptive athletes. And we also have some other programs through Vermont that we collaborate with. So like Vermont Adaptive, we collaborate with, Green Mountain Adaptive Sports is a program that we typically have folks
who sign up for scholarships and we support them if they receive scholarships through that program. So we’ve kind of taken many different organizations that just need a place that has accessible places to climb and skilled staff, so yeah.
Catherine: Amazing. So funding wise, it sounds like, you said that people could apply for scholarships for that, but is it, I don’t know, is it super expensive?
Julia: It ranges depending on the person and the amount of staff that’s required for support. But we do have a lot of athletes that we work with who are able to get scholarships through some of these programs and some of the community days that they host as well. So yeah, there’s a lot of different options. It just kind of takes a bit of exploring on what works best for the athlete.
Catherine: That’s so awesome. And usually people I’m guessing would just go to Petra Cliff to climb or do you go other places?
Julia: Yeah, I mean a lot of the organizations that we work with tend to work between Petra Cliffs and like Metro Rock, which is our other gym in Vermont. Since we have a mountaineering school, we do have the ability to take athletes outside. But with the other programs as well, they kind of host their own climbing days that they’ll do. Like, I know Vermont Adaptive gets out and does climbing days with different groups of athletes and we have a lot of work
in the gym that we do. My coworker, Neive, is wonderful, and he also does a lot of support programming with our adaptive athletes. So we have a nice base at Petra that we work with.
Catherine: That’s awesome. Well, thanks for sharing about that. Amy, I would love to hear more about what you’re doing.
Amy: I guess explaining my experience with adaptive sports, I’ll kind of take you through the timeline. I first got started with adaptive sports at New England Disabled Sports in New Hampshire, primarily with winter programming, doing adaptive snow sports, not necessarily skiing, ’cause it looks a different way. So sliding down the snow was our primary sport there and that’s when I absolutely fell in love with it.
And since then I’ve worked or volunteered at several different adaptive programs. And so after I was at New England
Disabled Sports, aka NEDS, I then came back home to Vermont and went to my home mountain and worked at Smugglers’ Notch in their adaptive programming. NEDS is a big nonprofit that goes 100s of lessons go out every day, and just massive, massive organization that primarily is snow sports in the winter and they’ve been dabbling in some summer sports, like mountain biking, some golf.
And then the Smugglers’ Notch adaptive program is mainly kids programs. So it’s a great program for a family who’s perhaps out of state and they’re gonna go stay out in Vermont, and they stay at Smuggs perhaps for a full week. And they have summer and winter programming and it’s like a summer camp environment. So the kids get dropped off at 9:00 AM and they get picked up at 4:00 PM. And throughout the day if it’s a winter sport, you’re doing your winter sport, and in the summer, it’s like very much a day camp environment. So there’s arts and crafts, and there’s swimming, and there’s maybe some disc golf, some ropes core situation. So that’s mainly kids programming, although there are some adults that will do some winter programming, but that’s mainly a kid. Kids with developmental and intellectual disabilities are the primary target of the Smugglers’ Notch adaptive program. So I worked there for several years.
And then once I moved to Burlington, I said finally I can start volunteering for Vermont Adaptive. And Vermont Adaptive has several locations throughout the state. And there’s skiing at Bolton, Sugar Bush and then Pico Resort, different winter sports there. So those are the three main massive organizations there. And then the summer programming
has a really cool spot on the Burlington Waterfront where there’s paddling, there’s on the bike path, some partnerships with Petra Cliffs and Metro Rock doing adaptive climbing, some partnerships with the Chill Foundation doing some skateboarding.
So that’s really cool just getting like the full gamut of year-round recreation with Vermont Adaptive. And then my full-time job is with the Kelly Brush Foundation. And we are a national nonprofit that helps folks specifically with spinal cord injuries get active. So we provide grant opportunities for folks to purchase adaptive sports equipment to try out adaptive sports experiences.
And the really cool part of that is that we get to partner with organizations across the country and help folks be active and independent recreating in their own communities. So we provide the funding for folks to get active and stay active and lead a healthy lifestyle. So I’m still volunteering with Vermont Adaptive in my, quote, unquote, “spare time,” although I don’t have a ton of it. And I be here in Vermont with the KBF and travel across the country helping folks get active.
Catherine: Oh, that is just, you both are doing amazing things here. (Catherine laughs)
Amy: We’re doing fun things too.
Catherine: Yes. And just keeping people active, and it sounds like just giving them access to things that bring them joy throughout, like different environments in the community. That’s so great.
Amy: Definitely.
Catherine: So Amy, I would love to hear more about some different projects that KBF has been doing. When you think about the journey of accessible recreation, we like to think about, specifically for a spinal cord injury, from injury to independence. And our program pathways can help lead from injury to independence in accessible recreation. So when you think about, you just acquired an injury or perhaps you just acquired a diagnosis, and you wanna get started
and where do you get started. So that’s where I talked about the Active Project. That’s kind of your first stop, to learn and to see where to recreate, from then, we have scholarships. So our scholarships can help folks with reimbursed travel fees and pay program fees directly to get started in beginner sports experiences. So let’s say someone learned about basketball on the Active Project and they really wanna get started. So they can apply to a scholarship to go to an a beginner basketball clinic, and we can help pay for them to go to that. Once they’re there, they say, “Oh, I’ve tried out a bunch of different basketball wheelchairs, this is really cool. I’m ready to have my own, I wanna be part of this rec league.” So they can apply for a grant to get a grant to purchase their own adaptive sports.
And then from there, who do I recreate with? Where do I recreate? We have an awesome program with our camps where we help people pay for them to come have these awesome sports experiences. I’m a little biased but my favorite one is called Turns and Burns, where we partner with Oregon Adaptive Sports out in Bend, Oregon, where we go skiing in the morning and then mountain biking in the afternoon. And it’s fun, we get to have dinner together, and it’s just the people from all around the country that are either independent in their sport or they’re getting independent. And you’re able to connect, and you’re gonna talk about the real-life things, and you’re spending these intense four days together learning the sport. It’s super cool.
So we have, you know, a ski camp that we do with Vermont Adaptive. We’re starting a court sports camp down at Ability360 in Phoenix, Arizona, so we’ll be doing tennis and softball and maybe some football. And it’ll be really cool
getting people together in those communities and just finding programs to recreate with. And then our trail accessibility program. So great, I have the equipment, I have people to recreate with, where do I recreate? So we’re working on having that.
And then just across the board, just finding people be able to be independent and be like our founder, Kelly, who she has, you know, two young girls and she gets to go Nordic skiing in her backyard, she gets to go mountain biking with them, she gets to go skiing with them, she gets to go golfing with them, and you know, it is just her family recreating together. And she went from the journey of acquiring the spinal cord injury 20 years ago to being just a… She always says, “I do everything I wanna do, it just looks a little different,” and I really love that model.
Catherine: I love that.
Amy: How to do it, and it’s okay if it looks different, and it’s just how your body is, and let’s get you out there.
Catherine: Yes, oh thank you for sharing that. Like, what a great way to physically connect. But that social and emotional piece, I feel like is so important. And what a great way to have those different experiences.
Amy: Yeah, and if I could change one thing about the structure of some adaptive sports is, sometimes you’re kind of just learning how to do a sport with a coach. We find more and more people telling us that the most valuable part
that they’re getting is connecting with other people. So you know, that’s part of the very common recreation experience, and we have a space for that in adaptive sports and being able to connect with that community and develop those relationships because eventually, you know, you can text your friend “hey, you wanna go skiing this weekend?” ’cause you have your accessible equipment, you have people to recreate with, you have places to recreate at, and that’s the ultimate goal. So how do we build the foundation to have the people have the confidence, the resources, the tools to be able to
recreate independently just like anyone else would.
Catherine: Yes.
(group chuckles)
Amy: That’s the project I’m excited about. And by the project, I mean, all of the projects,
Julia: It’s so amazing.
Catherine: Julia, do you have any? I think you mentioned earlier a climbing festival, is that something that is accessible?
Julia: It is, yeah. And something that we continuously work on through CRAG. So I can talk about a couple of different projects. For rock climbing, I feel like our drive for accessibility has grown pretty drastically in the last two years. And we have gotten a lot of folks in our community involved in giving input on how to make things more accessible. So through CRAG Vermont, our nonprofit, we have a couple of different committees that kind of have different roles within the community. So we have a community committee that’ll be starting this year that we’re really excited to open up to all of our CRAG members and folks who are interested in getting involved that will bring our community closer together.
We had a lot of experience this past year with doing some adaptive training through Petra, with myself and even Andrea, for our CRAG board to have more knowledge on like adaptive sports. And so that’s kind of given, trying to find the right word, that’s kind of given some insight into the work that we need to do to make spaces more accessible.
So one of the big projects that our organization had focused on, in addition to the many that we’ve done, but one of them was this Bolton Quarry space which we have had for a while through CRAG Vermont. But we have kind of realized
that it’s a great space to start this like accessibility journey because you can drive right up to the base of the cliff. And it’s relatively flat, but there’s a lot of work still that needs to be done to decrease most of those barriers. So we’ve gotten some input from folks through Vermont Adaptive, who use the space pretty frequently, and then through Petra and Metro and like all of these other organizations where we have been able to, like I said, create this ramp and do a lot of like trail maintenance with support from Mammut Sports that had come in and like done a trail day with us and…
Catherine: Oh, I was gonna say, do you have like trail work days that people could volunteer and come do some trail work?
Julia: Yeah, so we had two, one with Mammut last year, and our like summer kickoff that we do through CRAG, we had a workday through that event as well where we just did a lot of like breaking the ground and moving rocks and trying to like make the base of the cliff flat, and we have a lot more work to do on that project. But in terms of that, with our climbing festival that we have every September, we were able to like efficiently use that space this year for our adaptive clinic,
which was really exciting. So we had a few athletes that came out, we had Mo Beck who came out this year. She is an adaptive Paralympian, I believe, who is mostly based out in the west, but she comes back to her homeland in New England where she was able to join us for this adaptive event and meet our athletes and get work with them, which was really awesome. And yeah, it was just great to kind of start this group where we can bring folks out to rock climb and just get to meet more people in our community, so it’s something that we’re really hoping to expand. I had brought up the idea
recently of hopefully doing like an adaptive ice climbing clinic next year for Ice Bash, which happens every January, and just consistently making this event better every single year. So the climbing festival itself goes for the entire weekend and our clinic is typically like a two-day clinic, where we do one indoors and one outdoors. But the event itself, we just strive to make it as accessible as possible because it’s really fun and a great way to connect with the climbing community.
Catherine: Yeah. If someone wants to volunteer for like a trail work day, where would they find that information?
Julia: So they can find that information on the CRAG Vermont website. It’s cragvt.org. But we have a portion of that page that’s specifically for volunteering. So we had a lot of folks who were able to volunteer for like our adaptive clinic last year and come out and support our adaptive athletes, and also just kind of broaden that community and access. But then also for the festival itself or any of the other work that we do during the year, like the trail days, which we’re hoping to expand
beyond just the Quarry, but that’s kind of our starting point right now. Starting point.
Catherine: So Amy, do you also work, it sounds like, depending on the sport maybe like the clientele or age range?
Amy: I’m gonna speak in terms of both Vermont Adaptive and–
Catherine: Okay.
Amy: Because I’m there in a volunteer capacity and we collaborate with them, with KBF a lot as well, although I can speak
most expertly about KBF.
Catherine: Okay. (laughs)
Amy: Vermont Adaptive is very similar to the programs that Julia was talking about, it’s all ages, all disabilities, kind of meeting them where they’re at and being able just to have fun and recreate and work on being independent. And so anyone’s eligible to do those programs that identifies as having a disability. With KBF, it’s all age ranges for folks with spinal cord injuries to participate with our grant programs and our camps. So that is any age, any demographic, the only caveat is that they must have a spinal cord injury.
Catherine: I know it was interesting we had a episode about kind of transitioning from school age into adulthood and being able to find activities in your community. So I feel like this is a great like second episode of hearing all things that
people of all ages can access because I think sometimes Vermont being a rural area, it’s hard for people to really know what’s going on. So is the best way for people to kind of learn or like sign up for Vermont Adaptive Sports? Is it like a website? Or like if someone was like, “Ooh, I wanna try skiing,” what’s the best way for someone to do that?
Amy: Definitely touching base with Vermont Adaptive. But one of the really great programs that we have at KBF is an online platform called the Active Project. You can find it if you just Google “KBF Active Project” and it’ll take you to activeproject.kellybrushfoundation.org. And it’s an online platform that helps connect all people with physical disabilities to adaptive sports and recreation across the world. So you can go to our map and you can sort by organization, you can sort by sport, you can sort by location.
So if you are, you say, hey I live in Burlington, my zip code is 05401. I want to get into adaptive skiing. And you can filter by those things and it’ll take you to all of the different adaptive sports and recreation in Vermont. So it’ll link you to Vermont Adaptive, it’ll link you to Green Mountain Adaptive, it’ll link you to maybe Smugglers’ Notch Adaptive and all of the adaptive programs in the state. And then you can get in touch with them from their website, and most of them you have a number you can call our website to register as a participant. But really being able to find out about it and knowing what you have access to is kind of the first barrier. So you’re like right, okay, I know I wanna get active, I wanna lead an active
lifestyle, how do I get started? The Active Project is gonna help answer those questions, as well as give you information
about different sports. What equipment options are there, what do I need to know about recreating the sports, what makes the rules about wheelchair basketball different from standup basketball? And you can learn all about those sports, where to do it, who to recreate with. You can message other users, you can go to forums and things like that, and just really answer those how do I get started questions, are gonna be answered by that.
Catherine: Right. Yeah, that’s true. It just makes me think because I am also an active person and enjoy skiing and doing all the outdoor things. But if someone needed equipment, is the equipment there to rent? Or like, say I wanted to try, I don’t know, skating. Is there like a place that I could rent skates and try that?
Amy: Well, so the goal of the platform is to be able to connect you with organizations and programs in your own community. So depending on what’s available in the community, we… If Vermont Adaptive has like skateboarding, right, you could connect with them and say, “If I were to do the skate program partnership with Vermont Adaptive and Chill, could I have access to a skateboard?” And those are questions that you could answer there. And so it really depends.
Catherine: There, awesome, okay.
Amy: But that being said, there is a classified page that was just launched. So if someone knows that they wanna get into adaptive hand cycling and they wanna get a cheap, used hand cycle, the classified page might be a good fit for that.
Catherine: Ah, that is so cool.
Amy: Yeah.
Catherine: What a great way to like collaborate and like be able to kind of find out what’s out there.
Amy: So the ultimate goal is to being able to get connected in your own community and what are the recreation opportunities, and how do you connect with people to recreate with and places to recreate at. And the goal… It’s hard to find that information, so being able to connect and build up the sports recreation opportunity in your own community is really our main goal.
Catherine: That’s the goal, right, I love that. (chuckles)
Julia: I can speak a bit on like community because I think it kind of tends to be a barrier, at least for some of the athletes that I work with. In Vermont, I feel like there is such a large community of adaptive athletes, and it really just takes
some time to be able to find the programs and like the accessibility to get into those programs for folks to get connected. And so I always like to tell people, like there are other folks that exist in the state of Vermont who want to do the same things that you do in the same way that you do them. And sometimes it just kind of takes getting connected through these programs to find that community. But I have talked with a lot of our athletes and how it can be challenging to find that community like right off the bat, but they exist. And like there is a such a large community of people who want to be active and who want to get into these sports, and it’s out there. And so even just kind of starting in some of these locations and getting involved in these programs, it helps really build those connections to find the community
that people are seeking.
Catherine: Yeah, I’m curious even like about transportation. Like, say you wanted to try skiing but like being able to even like access, getting to the mountain, or getting… I think Petra at least we have some public transportation in Burlington that people could use, but I’m curious being able to get out in Vermont the best way. But I wonder like you said, collaborating and meeting new people, that like carpooling is probably an option.
Julia: Absolutely.
Catherine: Have you found that is a barrier for people to access different programs?
Julia: It can be. Not in terms of getting to the location. The access point that we have been working really hard to decrease the barrier for is at least in rock climbing, having access to get to the cliff itself. That’s something that
is really challenging, especially for folks who have physical challenges where they might not be able to, like, get their wheelchair all the way up to the base of a climb because of the way that the trail is, it’s a really steep incline or there’s a lot of obstacles in the way, or just the conditions of the time. If it’s like muddy during spring season, or snowy in the winter, it can be really challenging to get access to a lot of the locations that we have for climbing. And so through CRAG this year, we actually have done a lot of work at the Bolton Quarry to create an adaptive space that is as much accessible as possible. So we have created a wheelchair ramp that we were able to get a couple of our clinics out to this year. And just decreasing some of those environmental barriers to access.
Catherine: Environmental, yeah.
Julia: Yeah, that’s kind of a, at least in terms of rock climbing, that’s something that we’ve experienced is that, for indoor climbing, a lot of the gyms can be accessible through carpooling or taking public transportation or driving to, but when it comes to outdoor climbing, there’s a big need in trying to make the space and environment accessible with an outdoor area because a lot of times, you have to hike to get to those spaces.
Catherine: Yeah, for sure.
Julia: And it’s not always, you know, approachable, so yeah.
Amy: And that is a barrier that is seen across all adaptive sports, it’s just a progressive issue and definitely transportation. At KBF, we really are doing our best to try to remove as many barriers as we possibly can to accessible recreation. So something like trail accessibility. We partnered with the Richmond Mountain Trails to create the East’s first-ever universally-accessible mountain bike trail system called the Driving Range. And so instead of retrofitting trails to be accessible to mountain bikes, we’re helped from the ground up built universally-accessible trails. And accessible doesn’t mean beginner, it just means accessible.
Catherine: Accessible, right.
Amy: You know, black diamond mountain bike trails that can be wide enough for an adaptive mountain bike to get through. Those questions, the same that Julia mentioned about rock climbing, is the entry accessible? And then once I get there, is that something that is even just accessible in general? So we are working on kind of creating this gold standard in the East of how to create accessible mountain bike trails and how our ski resorts accessible. So the Vermont Adaptive at Mount Ellen has this awesome accessible facility there, but if you go to some other mountain, it’s like I can’t even get from the lodge to the mountain.
Catherine: Right.
Amy: And then, how do I get there, even if I have someone to carpool with, if we have three people going adaptive mountain biking, you can’t fit three adaptive mountain bikes in one car so how do we get there? Those are some things that we still haven’t really figured out.
Catherine: I know, I feel like it’s just like always one of those problem solving things, right. And just myself as an OT, I just like think about all those environmental factors that could possibly kind of steer me away maybe from trying something, just like you said, like the parking lot, like, what does that look like? Am I gonna be able to go to the bathroom? Like, it’s just like all those things.
Amy: But that being said, if you’re recreating with one of the big programs in Vermont, they kind of really have
thought about those questions.
Catherine: Awesome.
Amy: If you want to go mountain biking with Vermont Adaptive, meet at Catamount in Williston. And though Vermont Adaptive’s bringing your bikes for you, they’ve thought about the bathroom question and they’ve looked at the trails. So we know the trails are accessible, and they can help you through that. And so if you’re really anxious about getting started in accessible recreation, these programs that we have in Vermont are really great, great programs that we’re so lucky to have in our community. And being able to recreate with them can really help overcome a lot of those fears that someone might have about getting started. And just getting the equipment there and thinking about the things that you don’t even know you have to think about.
Catherine: Right, yeah.
Amy: Great programs that we feel really proud to have in Vermont.
Julia: Yeah, I can say the same in terms of, like, the collaboration between CRAG Vermont and Petra. We have tried to kind of break down some of those like mental barriers, right? Of being anxious to get outdoors for the first time and really knowing what to expect and the people that you’re working with. Every September, CRAG Vermont hosts our Vermont Climbing Festival. And we were able to do an adaptive clinic this year with guides through Petra, which was really exciting. And the way that we had structured it was doing an indoor day, one day, and then our outdoor day the next day. So on our indoor day, you were able to get to, like, meet the guides and the instructors that would be out in the field with you and talking about some of the risks and barriers that we might experience and how do we work through that together to feel more prepared for folks who might be outdoor climbing for the first time. So really trying to give some expectation as to like what’s gonna be out there when we get out into the field, and how do we prepare for that.
Catherine: Yeah, and I think you were able to touch on some of those areas that the systems could improve, like you said, I think accessing the trails. Can you think of any other things that kind of need improvement? I mean… (laughs)
Julia: I can speak to some of our programs. We collaboratively… Primarily, so Andrea Charest who is the co-owner of Petra Cliffs, and then Neive Doyle who works primarily with our adaptive athletes through the gym, have done a lot of
research and preparation to hopefully find some grants to find equipment ’cause that seems to be something that in most of our programs is a really big barrier to accessing equipment for folks who are new and want to get into the field, but might have that financial barrier and can’t afford to buy the equipment that they need to get into this sport, because it can be really expensive to buy rock climbing equipment, and especially for adaptive athletes who need really complicated systems to be able to support them. It’s been a challenge to kind of find the right equipment, and the right equipment
that might be sustainable for long-term for folks who wanna get out into the field. So they’ve been doing some
really amazing research into finding the right equipment that can be universal for a lot of people, and to just have the
most support and access when it comes to climbing, especially outdoors, to keep people safe.
Amy: And that’s how the Kelly Brush Foundation was born in general. When our founder Kelly acquired her spinal cord injury at an NCAA ski race 20 years ago, her teammates just had an outcry of support. And they did a bike ride
to help fundraise money for her to buy a monoski, which is the adaptive ski gear that someone with her level of injury would use to go skiing. And she was so overwhelmed with support that her family started the Kelly Brush Foundation to help other folks with disabilities buy adaptive sports equipment. The rig that that her team helped her buy nowadays is about $8,500. So if I wanted to go buy a pair of skis, I could go to a ski swap and I could spend 200 bucks and I could get a used pair of boots and skis, and they’d be pretty decent for $200. So being able to shell out over $8,000 to buy the type of gear that Kelly bought is just unavailable to so many people.
And so the grant process is how the KBF was born, and that’s still our biggest program. Our goal is to give out a million dollars in equipment grants this year to be able to help people recreate independently. And then other programs exist like us, so like the Challenged Athletes Foundation is an organization for folks with all disabilities that can help get grants to purchase adaptive sports equipment. And organizations like Victoria’s Victory Foundation, which exists to help people with physical disabilities purchase mobility equipment, and they’ll give grants for adaptive sports equipment, and Move United is the kind of overarching umbrella for adaptive sports. And they have grants for programs and for individuals to help buy ’cause that financial barrier to access is really just the most insurmountable one. And the goal is to just help people get active, and that’s the first one that we wanna help overcome. And then, you know, moving down the independence timeline of, great, I have the equipment. Do I have people to recreate with, do I have accessible spaces to recreate at? Do I have people that understand me and I feel comfortable going out there with? And all of those questions that you might have are goals to help people connect with those answers because there’s just so many questions that you can have getting into accessible recreation.
Catherine: Yeah, well, thank you. I have one more question. So if you could think of one piece of advice you’d give people who are trying a new sport. Let’s see, I’m just trying to think of, like, what’s one piece of advice to get someone like really excited, like, “Okay, I just like wanna go try this now.” Or how to access these services. Do you have one piece of advice you’d like to share with everyone?
Amy: I definitely would want people to go to the Active Project because they’re just so, I know how many questions you
can have about getting started and hopefully the Active Project can help answer those questions about equipment, about places to recreate, people to recreate with, about tips and tricks, about transfers. If you’re a loved one of someone with a disability that you wanna help them recreate, hopefully this helps answer the question, so my number one tip would
be go to the Active Project. And if the question isn’t there, then someone has the answer. We’re in a really, really special
place with adaptive sports and the growth it’s had over the last couple decades. And so, it’s cheesy, but if there’s a will, there is a way. And there’s someone that can help you answer these questions. And the adaptive sports world
is full of creative people that wanna make it happen and we’re passionate about what we do. So if you have a question and you have a desire to get it done, like try to get connected to someone that can help you answer those questions because we can make it happen.
Catherine: Thank you, Amy.
Julia: Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, Amy you kind of said it for me.
Catherine: I know, you really did. I feel so inspired now.
(group chuckles)
Julia: But yeah, I would just say get connected. Like I feel like a lot of the experience that I’ve had with adaptive athletes is just the fear of the unknown and not knowing what the programs can do, and who’s gonna be there, and the type of equipment and access that’s gonna be available. But just getting connected and asking the questions to kind of settle those fears can open up such a large world in such a great community. And like Amy was saying, like there are people out there that will help to get access in any way that it’s possible. I feel like that’s something that, and even I have done significantly, is just coming up with really creative solutions to a lot of the barriers that we’ve experienced through our programming and with our athletes. And just trying to find the best way for things to be accessible. And so there are folks out there who will do that. And so yeah, getting connected, finding the right people, and just having a blast.
Amy: And the conversations like these are so important to help ’cause we love collaborating with other programs and all programs want us get connected. At the end of the day, every adaptive sports program goal is to get people active and we’ll do what it takes to accomplish that goal. So if someone you’re talking to might not have the answer, they know someone that does. So we want to get people connected, we want to get people independent with recreation. And so being, I think the hardest part is getting started. And then once you have your foot in the door there, let’s see where it can grow and where we can get independent in recreation.
Catherine: Yes. Well, thank you so much to both of you, and I really hope our listeners today have learned about all these great things that are going on in the Vermont community. Thank you so much. It has been great.
Julia: Thank you.
(Julia and Catherine chuckles)
