Many dedicated NIRSA members decided that it was important for the organization to have a group of people devoting their attention to issues related to adaptive and inclusive recreation. Our hope was that this focus would ultimately assist in promoting awareness, accessibility, and recreation opportunities for people with disabilities. Not every school is fortunate enough to have a professional that oversees these areas. We want to help bridge the gap in many ways, including opening the dialogue within all of NIRSA regarding adaptive and inclusive recreation, creating a network of members with knowledge and experience, offering support to those with questions or concerns, providing information and resources, and sharing success stories.
You may wonder how this affects you or your school. The first and foremost effect is that you can email us at inclusivenirsa@gmail.com with any accommodation or inclusion questions. Your email will be shared with our panel and many professional and student staff with expertise in the field will respond to your questions. We will also be sharing a quarterly newsletter with the NIRSA list serve that will address current legislation and success stories, as well as a Student Voice where you can learn directly from students with disabilities about what they want and need recreationally. We are establishing relationships with vendors and encouraging them to be more inclusive. Updates on these vendors and their equipment will be in our quarterly newsletter. You can find a list of all of our charges below.
If you (or a student you know) are interested in serving on this work team, being a part of the expert panel, or just being put on the list serve to see what issues others are facing, please email inclusivenirsa@gmail.com so that you can be added to our list serve. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any of your adaptive and inclusive needs! It can be as simple as what is the most accessible weight equipment to "I have a student who is blind and wants to run- what do I do?" Look for members of our group to be presenting at your state workshops, as well as at the national level.
On behalf of the committee, I thank you for your time and hope that we can serve you and your department along the road!
Lindsay Meyer Bond, Coordinator
Adapted Recreational Sports
Age Group and Camps Program
Department of Recreational Sports
Office of Student Life
The Ohio State University
bond.217@osu.edu