Integrating Persons with Impairments and Disabilities into Standard Outdoor Adventure Education Programs

Abstract

By understanding processes that create inclusive environments and methods for accommodating individual difference, outdoor adventure educators can successfully integrate students with impairments and disabilities into standard programs. This article offers a paradigm shift away from viewing disability as the primary identity of persons with impairments and disabilities toward understanding impairment and disability as a small part of the experience of individual difference. The author provides some historical background to the topic, offers suggestions about how to accommodate for specific differences, identifies principles of inclusion, and specifies criteria for implementing inclusive practices in outdoor adventure education.

Keywords

Disability Inclusion Integration Outdoor Adventure

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