Disabled Hikers: Building Disability Community and Justice in the Outdoors

​

Disabled Hikers was born from a vision of an outdoors  culture where everyone belongs. We are building disability community and championing justice in the outdoors, working toward a culture transformed by access, representation, and equity for Disabled people. As an entirely Disabled-led organization, our work is deeply rooted in disability awareness, disability justice, and the shared pursuit of collective liberation.

​

The Need for Change and Opportunity for Action

​

Disabled Hikers was founded in response to a culture of exclusion in the great outdoors, typified by the challenges of access and significant questions of accessibility, as well as a lack of representation in outdoor organizations.

 

The current limits of representation are also evident in the lack of available research about outdoor experiences, accessibility, and the disability community. There are few published research articles on the topic. In "Disabling barriers—Coping with accessibility of nature in Biosphere Reserves", Winkler, Kosanic, and Martin-Lopez reviewed accessibility measures at Biosphere Reserves worldwide and found that only 58% considered accessibility with at least one measure. However, the measures are primarily focused on infrastructure for physical disabilities. The degree to which the measures actually improved accessibility was not reviewed. This points to the systemic exclusion of people with disabilities in the outdoors.

 

We shift this culture of exclusion and move our mission forward through the following programs and activities to:

 

• Build community, leadership, and peer mentorship opportunities through The Disabled Hikers Network platform, directly addressing the existing lack of disability leadership and opportunities for accessible education and peer mentorship. 

 

• Amplify authentic representation of people with disabilities through our Storytelling Project, via blogging and social media; providing stipends and editorial support to those who share their stories and moving beyond the notion of inspirational narratives of overcoming disability.

 

• Produce Trail Guides and Guidebooks that increase access to outdoor recreation by providing detailed accessibility information and trail information that goes beyond listing trails as “ADA accessible”. These guides are written by Disabled people, for Disabled people, and directly address the lack of information about accessibility in the outdoors that significantly limits access to outdoor recreation for Disabled people. 

 

• Hold Accessible Group Hikes, Picnics, and Other Gatherings that are led by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities and their friends, family, and caregivers. These events provide opportunities for the cross-disability community to engage in outdoor recreation together, answering a need for community building; a lack of accessible engagement is an additional barrier to the outdoors for our community. 

 

• Engage in Advocacy and Education Led by Disabled People Through a Disability Justice Lens, including working with parks, organizations, and agencies to improve accessibility and inclusion, through educational communication campaigns and policy, and challenging the dominant narrative of who is considered valid in outdoor spaces. We are opposing structural and systemic barriers to outdoor access for people with disabilities, including systemic ableism and lack of awareness about disability communities.