Michigan has so much beauty and adventure everyone should have a chance to enjoy it. For some they can’t, until now. Part of the DNR’s goal is to make campgrounds more inclusive for people with disabilities.
They are hoping to open up the possibilities for people with disabilities, so they know they can experience activities like kayaking and biking too. 9&10’s Megan Huiskens went to Interlochen State Park where they welcomed people with disabilities for the first ever DiversAbility Day.
“We just take a little longer sometimes to do the same task that, sometimes somebody able bodied would do,” said Bradley Hall, participant. “We’re still the same people that we were before, it’'s just that we’re just a little more clumsy, let’s say.”
Hall was a participant in the first ever Interlochen State Park DiversAbility Day. People with disabilities had the opportunity to try all kinds of camping activities including biking, an accessible boat ride and kayaking.
“The water is very choppy, it makes it really good for all of us, the ability challenged people that will probably show up to this event to have a good time to do it,” said Hall.
The event was hosted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Park and Recreation Division in partnership with local non profits the Lighthouse Rehabilitation Center and Disability Network of Northern Michigan. The goal is to bring inclusivity to everyday camping activities.
“I kind of was hoping, as the accessibility coordinator, that we could kind of create a model and that we would have these parks available at different locations throughout the State of Michigan so that people had an opportunity or an excuse to go visit other parks,” said Michelle O’ Kelly, Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “So it’s kind of broadening our reach with the audience of folks to be able to attend these events. The ones that we have hosted formerly, and in Southeast Michigan have been around 200 participants. We knew that there’s a demand for this type of an event and so we wanted to kind of create a model where we could do it in other events.
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The DNR also hosts DiversAbility events down state and at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes in
September. O’Kelly says events like this are important because it opens up opportunities for people with disabilities to activities they didn’t think they could do.
“People even today, it’s their first time getting on a boat or getting on a kayak, and they never knew that they could join in on the fun,” said O’Kelly. I’ve heard today that they haven’t been on a kayak since they’ve had their injury or their disability, and this is the first time that they’ve been in an inclusive environment.
“And I’ve talked to parents that have children that have Autism, that feel like that they can be here and the kids can be themselves, and they don’t have to worry about the pressures of people looking at them differently. and so it kind of creates an inclusive environment.
Hall says why inclusivity is important.
“The disability community still wants to have the same amount of fun as everybody as able bodied people,” said Hall. “So, whatever we can accomplish, through doing a lot of actual work. The State Park here did a wonderful job from the last time we were here. I don’t know, 2 or 3 years ago, but they’ve done a wonderful job in allowing people with mobility challenges to utilize this facility.”
