A Big win for the disability community

 
GRIT Freedom Chair helps nature lovers with disabilities explore forest preserve.
The Will County’s Forest Preserve’s Nature Center is the first in the nation to be accredited by the National Inclusion Project. 
 
This is a big win for the disability community. The GRIT Freedom Chair at four Rivers Environmental Educational Center in Channahon helps those with disabilities better explore the trails and outdoors. The GRIT Freedom Chair is available for public use at no cost.
 
The GRIT Freedom Chair at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center in Channahon helps those with disabilities better explore trails and is available for public use at no cost.
 
People with disabilities receive fewer opportunities for physical exercise, outdoor activities, and recreation than do other Americans. The need to Creating opportunities for families and friends of the disabled community is critical. Recreation and outdoor activity provide a means to physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being for individuals with disabilities. 
 
Recreation can reduce pain, depression, stress, and anxiety; increase strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance; improve cardiovascular functioning; improve self-esteem, social skills, promote independence; and improve mental alertness, and problem solving.[1] Aerobic activity boosts immune system activity, reduces pain and inflammation, and decreases the incidence and impact of chronic diseases, insulin resistance, cancer, and stroke.[2]
 
Spending over 40 years in a manual wheelchair has taught me that getting outdoors is critical to my mental, physical and spiritual health. In addition, spending time outdoors has been proven to have important mental and physical health benefits for all people, including significant improvements in self-esteem, reductions in depression and anxiety, decreased stress, increased creativity, and a sense of freedom and connection to the community.[3]
 
We as a community have so many opportunities to make life more accessible for everyone. It is the right thing to do and it is necessary to help people thrive.
 
Fox TV Chicago used some of our video and did a story right away: 
 https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/wheelchair-initiative-in-will-county-expands-opportunities-for-individuals-with-disabilities-to-explore-nature
 
 
Brian P Swift  J.D. Coach – Business & Personal Strategist – Speaker [email protected] brianpswift.com
 
 
 
Human beings need the blue just as much as the green 
There is a clear correlation between close proximity to a body of water and better psychological and overall health outcomes, said Michael Depledge, chair of Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter Medical School.
Spending time near the water, “promotes physical activity and general fitness,” reducing the incidence of diabetes and other diseases associated with obesity. But it also slows down our heart rate and reduces stress hormones, boosting our mental health.
This is much like grounding. I try to spend as much time as I can outdoors. Being confined to wheelchair I find being outdoors or near water has an amazing Zen like affect on my entire body. My mind, body, emotions and soul.
The World Health Organization, for one, expects depression to become the world’s largest contributor to disease by 2030.
One line of research, in particular, found that people consistently show a strong preference for pictures of natural environments even when compared to attractive urban landscapes. While the rivers, lakes and the sea often appear in the visual stimuli associated with green spaces, water rarely appeared in pictures of cities and other man-made environments.
A study including pictures of things like fountains, canals and coastal cities, they found that respondents consistently reacted better to pictures with water.
In fact, the more water in the picture, the more positive the reaction was likely to be. Although people still expressed a preference for natural over urban settings with water, it was clear that aquatic features mattered a great deal.
Another study used data from a government-run annual health survey to see if they could spot a link between health and proximity to water.
Sure enough, coastal residents consistently reported feeling healthier than others living further away from the sea.
Recreation and outdoor activity provide a means to physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being for individuals with disabilities. 
 
Recreation can reduce pain, depression, stress, and anxiety; increase strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance; improve cardiovascular functioning; improve self-esteem, social skills, promote independence; and improve mental alertness, and problem solving.[4]
 
Aerobic activity boosts immune system activity, reduces pain and inflammation, and decreases the incidence and impact of chronic diseases, insulin resistance, cancer, and stroke.[5] The increased muscle tissue and bone strength resulting from physical activity makes daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and transferring easier to perform.[6]
 
Brian P Swift  J.D. Coach – Business & Personal Strategist – Speaker [email protected] brianpswift.com
 
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[1] North Carolina Recreation Therapy Association                                                 

[2] National Center on Health. “Physical Activity and Disability.” <www.nchpad.org>.

[3] Rob Jordan. Stanford News. “Stanford researchers find mental health prescription: Nature.” April 8, 2016.
<https://news.stanford.edu/2015/06/30/hiking-mental-health-063015/>.
National Center for Biochemical Information. “Health-Promoting Nature Access for People with Mobility Impairments: A Systematic Review.” 2017. <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5551141/>.

[4] North Carolina Recreation Therapy Association                                                 

[5] National Center on Health. “Physical Activity and Disability.” <www.nchpad.org>.

[6] Ibid.

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