For some families, planning a vacation is as easy as picking a spot, booking the trip and going. But for many families with children who have special needs, that kind of simplicity is not their reality. That’s why one Wilton family has arranged for an amazing outdoor sport and adventure program that caters to participants of all abilities to present an informational session at the Wilton Family Y on Tuesday, May 13 at 10:30 a.m..
The Adaptive Sports Center is a program based in Crested Butte, CO that provides year round outdoor recreation opportunities in Colorado’s beautiful Rocky Mountains for participants with disabilities and their family members. Summer activities include biking, water sports, horseback riding, a ropes and challenge course, rock climbing, camping, hiking and more. Winter activities include skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing, and Nordic skiing. These activities are truly for everyone and with the assistance of specialized equipment and professional instruction can be tailored to any ability and any disability.
Wilton parent Kimber Felton, whose eldest daughter, 18-year-old Kate, was born with cerebral palsy and cognitive delays, discovered the Adaptive Sports Center when Kate was aged 7. She said up until then she felt as if Kate’s needs made accessing the outdoors harder–but that changed on their first visit, during a white-water rafting excursion.
As Kimber recounts, Chris, the guide who accompanied the family, told her, “‘I’m in charge of Kate, you’re in charge of your family.’ Every time I went to check that Kate’s life preserver was on tight enough, he would say, ‘No! Be with your son, talk to your husband, enjoy! Look at the scenery!’ In the seven years of being in charge of Kate, it had always been [my husband] Mike and me, and to let go of her and let that responsibility go–you have responsibilities for a typical child, but for Kate, there’s a huge risk that’s so much greater. I kept looking back, and Chris kept telling me to stop. We came to this one hole, and my natural inclination was to lunge for Kate, and I look back and Chris had his hand on Kate and she was laughing up a storm. All of a sudden I became a parent who was white-water rafting with my family and just enjoying the moment. The weight of responsibility was gone. It was mind-blowing.”
As someone who used to teach outdoor education and hiked, Kimber’s experience with the center was almost spiritual. “I got to share my love for the outdoors with my children. This is our church, this is what we love. The hardest part about having Kate was I didn’t think I could take her into what I love. Now when we go, we stay out there for a month. Last year Kate and I did this ropes adventure course. It was awesome–this was Kate and me, doing what a mom and a daughter should be able to do.”
In fact it’s the way Adaptive becomes the equalizer, helping families just be families, that Kimber says is key. “The fact that my family goes on vacation, and Mitchell (15), Alex (8) and Kate will go mountain biking–Kate will be on a recumbent bike, Alex will be on a bike just off her training wheels, and Mitchell is on a harder course–and they have volunteers and instructors and those kids came back dirty and happy.”
Adaptive helps on all fronts, Kimber says.
“It’s hard having a child with special needs. If we go into the city, I have to plan it all ahead, I have to think of every possible outcome for Kate and for her brother and sister. I always have to think about the what-ifs. For the time when I’m at adaptive, someone else carries the main burden of the what-ifs. It’s freeing, because then I’m a family on vacation having fun.”
The kinds of participants that come to take part in the Adaptive program include amputees; burn survivors; people with autism, cerebral palsy, and medical, cognitive, congenital, neurological, emotional and behavior needs; people with hearing loss, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, orthopedic needs, polio, spina bifida, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment and other reasons.
Kimber was asked to be a parent representative on Adaptive’s board of directors about five years ago. Both as a director and as a parent participant, she wanted to let other families know about the program, especially as she says it’s often difficult for many to even imagine getting away for time off or vacation. That’s part of what motivated her to approach the Wilton Y to hold an informational session during one of Adaptive’s trips back east to work with the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC.
“The Wilton Y has really stepped up their outreach in the community to kids with special needs. They said they’d love to inform people about it. There are limited things you can do when you have a child with special needs, and this is an option. It’s important that people realize there are ways to get out there. The mental benefit on both ends–for the kids to do something that’s so hard for them to do and have fun and to be free is priceless.” Kimber adds that it’s incredible for the typical siblings and parents as well.
But the true motivation for trying to let more people know about Adaptive comes from Kimber’s own experiences there.
“I can talk to you as a board member and as a parent. As a parent, I will tell you Adaptive Sports Center changed my life.”
To learn more about the Adaptive Sports Center please visit www.adaptivesports.org. Please RSVP and direct any questions to Ella Fahrlander, Development Director, at ella@adaptivesports.org.