Access doesn’t mean paving pathways!

Matthew Roberts for High Country News

Access doesn’t mean paving pathways!

Designing for access in outdoor spaces doesn’t mean paving pathways

Posted on 29.05.2019

A reckoning with assumptions about who wants to spend time in nature.

Chris Clasby is a lifelong Montana resident, former team roper and steer wrestler, and an avid angler and hunter. He also has quadriplegia, but that doesn’t mean he wants to be limited to paved pathways when he heads out into the woods. People without disabilities, he told me, tend to assume that he “wants to hunt from a warm vehicle, shoot at a perfect animal out the window, and be served a warm meal while watching TV as someone else field-dresses the animal.”

But Clasby isn’t just along for the ride. The experience of the hunt, which in his case includes taking along a companion who can field-dress Clasby’s quarry, is of paramount importance.

“Hunters with disabilities, just like their non-disabled counterparts, have the same expectation — and desire — of strenuous preparation and planning, uncertain success, discomfort, and unfruitful time expended as any other hunter in the most remote backcountry,” Clasby said.

Chris Clasby poses outside a trail access point 10 minutes from his home. He had used the trail frequently, until rock and a small erosion ditch blocked the already narrow gate; now, he hikes and hunts elsewhere.

Like Clasby, many Westerners form their sense of self around a relationship with the outdoors, whether it’s a weeklong hunting trek into the backcountry or regular walks on a trail winding through urban green spaces.

And, of course, having a disability doesn’t prevent a person from seeking the solace or thrill of spending time in nature. That’s why small, everyday design choices in infrastructure and trails that open up the outdoors to a wider variety of users are more important than their apparent simplicity might suggest.

Rethinking outdoor access through the lens of disability forces a reckoning with assumptions about who the outdoors is for, while at the same time widening the inclusiveness of Western communities.

 

One of the biggest difficulties Clasby has encountered while advocating for outdoor access is that some people tend to evaluate a project’s success based on how many people have used it rather than the quality of the experience it creates. For example, some proponents were disappointed in the small number of people who took advantage of a private ranch near Lolo, Montana, after the owner opened it to hunters with disabilities. That’s missing the point, Clasby told me:

“It’s not the number of hunters, but the value of the experience to each hunter that matters”

Source
Antonia Malchik
High Country News
May 13, 2019

 

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