In 2023, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation launched “Outdoors for Everyone,” an initiative ensuring that the great outdoors is equally accessible and inclusive for all people–including those living with paralysis, their families, and caregivers. The Reeve Foundation's Content Specialist, Hannah Soyer, authored the following about her outdoor experiences.
When I was little, I’d take walks with my parents and brother to the end of our street. As my brother would take fast steps to meet my parents’ long strides, I’d drive my wheelchair beside them to the place where concrete met grass in the curve of our cul-de-sac, then turn around and venture back to our house. My mom and brother and I would often go on bike trails as well, my mom and brother biking or rollerblading, me zooming along in my chair. As I got older, the walks I took evolved: evening ventures through the prairie behind my grandparents’ house, journeys with helpers through the cool, older neighborhoods in Iowa City where I was going to college, and then meetups with friends at the height of the pandemic, our outdoor, masked wanderings a safe way to be in community.
I started taking solo walks around my neighborhood the year I moved back home to live with my parents, after finishing grad school. Being outside, in relationship with nature and the world around me, became something of a balm during a time of not knowing when my care situation would be stable enough to live on my own again. Or, perhaps, putting myself in conversation with the natural world had never stopped being a balm to growing up in a society not built for my body.
Disabled people being able to access the outdoors is nothing short of revolutionary – so many of our community have been isolated inside institutions, kept away from each other, and kept away from the world. That’s why the Outdoors for Everyone campaign – which is working to expand access to green spaces, parks, and trails for people with disabilities – is so important. All people should be able to enjoy the outdoors, however that may look for them.