New equipment helps disabled 'share the stoke'

Ridgway State Park acquires adaptive paddleboard, wheelchairs for water and trails

David Sussman isn't the type to sit on the sidelines. Just because he uses a wheelchair doesn't mean he doesn't want to participate as much as anyone else.

'As a person living with a disability, I don't want to just go to the park and sit and watch everyone have fun. I want to be out there having fun with them,' said the president of the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program's board of directors.

With the addition of new adaptive equipment, Ridgway State Park will allow people with disabilities to do just that.

This summer, the park acquired two Action Trackchair wheelchairs made for taking to the trails, two floating beach wheelchairs that can transition from land to lake, a 300-foot Mobi-Mat that allows users to roll any kind of wheelchair down to the water and an accessible paddleboard. According to the Center for Disease Control, about one in four Americans has a disability, and they don't want to sit around on the couch, Sussman said. They want in on the adventure.

The park is working on an online reservation system, but for now patrons can call to reserve any of the new equipment for free. People using track chairs are always accompanied by a guide on the trails, while the beach chairs require a second person to push as they don't have any controls for the rider.

Sussman, who has been disabled for around 45 years due to a childhood virus and has been using a wheelchair for five years, describes the track chairs as "La-Z-Boy recliner tanks." They’re comfortable and adjustable for almost any disability, but durable and tough enough for all sorts of terrain including sand, gravel, curbs and inclines.

The padded chairs can be controlled via a joystick, remote- operated by a volunteer or controlled via a mouth piece.

They can also be fitted to hold rifles and fishing poles, and the camo-colored chair purchased by the outreach program is intended for just that. Every year the park has accessible hunts, which previously relied on golf carts or trucks for transportation, and now the new chairs will provide even more access, Freeborn said.

According to Park Manager John Freeborn, the track chairs cost around $18,000 apiece. One was donated by Staunton State Park on the Front Range, while Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Hunting and Angling Outreach Program raised money for the second. A $19,000 grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, secured by Friends of Ridgway State Park, allowed the purchase of the beach mat and beach chairs.

Sussman said he knew the equipment was pricey, and that he applauded the park for raising the money when there are so many other things it could be spent on. He said that, hopefully, people will see this and petition more attractions to improve their accessibility. At the end of the day, it's about making sure people that may not normally get to access places like Ridgway State Park have the opportunity to get out there.

According to Ranger Erin Vogel, the park has four accessible trails and is looking at adapting more to suit the new equipment. She said a new trail management plan evaluated the ease of making trails accessible, and while this goal won't be possible for some, there are a few that would be easy to adapt for chair access.

Tim McGough, program director for Telluride Adaptive, said that Ridgway State Park has been the "gold standard" for a long time when it comes to accessibility with a ramp to the beach, accessible bathrooms and wheelchair-friendly picnic tables. But these latest additions open new doors, and will be utilized by the program in the future for events such as disabled veterans meetups and adaptive hiking outings.

Staff and volunteers from Telluride Adaptive Sports were some of the first to try the chairs, and Sussman said the goal now is to promote them to as many clients as possible. Sussman first became involved with Telluride Adaptive, which offers programs from ski lessons to horseback riding for people with disabilities, in the mid-1990s when he learned how to ski. Since then he has been a student, donor, volunteer and, finally, president of the board.

"My underlying goal is to give back what I was given," he said. In other words? "Share the stoke."

Kylea Henseler is a journalist with Report for America, a nonprofit national service program which places reporters in underserved areas. To make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work, contact [email protected].