After about 30 minutes of swimming in Bass Lake right outside of Yosemite National Park, Kristy and TJ Cook told their kids to climb into the boat so they could move it to another location.
That’s when 7-year-old Robbie panicked.
He thought this meant his swim time was over for good. Cue the full on meltdown: tears and screams that would make most parents a little regretful for hauling the family out of the house for the day.
But Kristy and TJ looked at their son, amazed — the good kind of amazed. The kind of amazed that’s expressed after witnessing something rare and special.
Robbie suffers from a rare form of epilepsy and he generally doesn’t communicate his needs.
But that day on the lake was different.
“We’re trying to explain to him that we’re just going to move the boat and we’re going to get right back in [the water],” says Kristy Cook. “But I don’t know that he completely understands what I’m saying. All I know is that he’s very upset and he wants to be in. So we parked the boat and my husband jumped in and I passed Robbie to him.”
“And [TJ] just lifted him up and he’s clapping and he started laughing hysterically. He had real tears all down his face…it was like at that moment he was so proud of himself that he had communicated his needs.”
It’s for these moments of connection that Kristy and TJ are on a mission to take Robbie to all 63 of the US National State Parks.
Less seizures, more connection
By now, the benefits of being outside are well documented. Aside from the advantages of physical exercise, the outdoors can improve emotional well-being, increase mental acuity, and improve sleep.
“For Robbie, he actually has less seizures when we’re on trips and he’s outside all the time,” says Cook.
But for Robbie and the rest of the 26% of the US population that live with some form of a disability, enjoying the outdoors can be incredibly difficult. There’s so many logistics to overcome, ranging from finding accessible trails to transporting heavy medical gear.
While the pandemic brought a renewed interest in the outdoors, there’s also been a fairly recent push to make sure it’s accessible to everyone. In 2012, the National Park Service created a task force and strategy to increase accessibility. It’s been diligently working toward that goal for the past 10 years. All-terrain wheelchairs are slowly making their way into more parks; along with adaptive sports, accessibility guides for the deaf and visually impaired, and quiet spaces for those visitors on the spectrum.
“Accessibility means something very different to a person who is in a wheelchair than to a person who is blind,” Jeremy Buzzell, who manages the National Park Service Accessibility Support Program, tells Conde Naste Traveler.
“I don’t talk about [accessibility] specifically by saying people with mobility devices can do things at this park. That’s only an aspect of accessibility.”
All-terrain wheelchairs are making their way into more parks; along with adaptive sports, accessibility guides for the deaf and visually impaired, and quiet spaces for those visitors on the spectrum.
While many outdoor enthusiasts note that the national parks — and even the outdoor industry itself — are becoming more accessible to all types of adventurers, one of the main obstacles is simply making people aware of the options available.
“I think that the biggest area that we’re lacking in is just exposure and awareness that those things are out there,” says Cook, “more families would get outside if we let them know that it’s possible.”
Amanda Powell, a 34-year-old mom with mild cerebral palsy who runs the advocacy organization National Park Capable, agrees. She didn’t know that the National Park Service had a free all-access pass for people with permanent disabilities until a few years ago. But once she knew about it, she applied immediately.
“I wanted to take advantage of that… I wanted to share the love of the outdoors with my daughter.”
It changed her life — she went from dabbling in the outdoors to becoming a full fledged enthusiast who hikes and bikes every chance she gets. She recently started rock climbing after learning about adaptive rock climbing gear.
Instagram influencers for accessibility
Research and preparation for an outdoor adventure is the first, and often the hardest, obstacle that families with medical challenges have to overcome.
So, both moms decided to create an instagram account to help parents become confident in living a life of adventure — and ultimately, healing — in the outdoors. They each share tips, tricks, and resources for families looking to venture outside. Cook runs Accessible Adventures, an instagram account and blog, that helps families navigate not only the outdoor world, but also the thorny medical and emotional issues that often arise with being a “medically complex family.”
Powell uses her platform to share detailed information about accessible trails, arrange meet ups, and evangelize about opportunities in adaptive sports. Eventually, she wants to turn National Park Capable into a non-profit organization to further help those with accessibility challenges.
Neither Cook nor Powell set out to become instagram influencers but they have quickly realized how much these families need a place to communicate, encourage, and sometimes vent with each other about life’s challenges.
“We definitely didn’t expect for it to take off the way that it did and to have this whole community of special needs parents,” Cook says about Accessible Adventures. “We’re connecting with all of these other medical parents and creating a community to feel heard and feel seen.”
And as is often the case, the wisdom derived from a community with specific challenges can have profound impacts on the wider population, too.
“I know that a lot of parents feel judgment from people when they’re out … even just toddlers having tantrums, even if they don’t have a disability,” says Powell, who hopes everyone — including parents, nonparents, disabled, and able-bodied — will stop letting fear of judgment keep them from living an adventurous lifestyle.
“Life is short,” she smiles, “You just have to do it.”