The Adventurers’ experiments with the specially abled began over two decades ago. The belief that all can partake in adventure activities led us to run programmes for people with disabilities. Water sports at our centre in Honnemardu and trekking activity in Kumaraparvat range were some of the first activities. I remember a young man walking with crutches respond to a local villager, “Just try walking with us and you will know the joy!”
   The impact of outdoor activities on people with disabilities is very deep. Young people who have participated as students are now running organisations focusing on disabilities and bringing their beneficiaries to our programmes.
   Of course, there has been some resistance to these activities. It has been perceived that physical activities are too much for the orthopaedically disabled. But then the experience is new to all. ‘Able’ bodied people too have reacted similarly.
   We pursued these odds and still offered programmes for all cross sections of participants.  Outdoors is a great equaliser. Persons with disabilities have participated in activities shoulder to shoulder with ‘able’ bodied people. While paddling coracles or canoes, the orthopaedically challenged have an advantage over others, as their upper bodies are stronger because of frequent use.
   Physically challenged Haseena Banu, whose body weight had increased due to the disuse of her body, picked up skills like swimming long distance after participating in a year-long course in eco-tourism organised by The Adventurers. Following this, her body weight became manageable. She was also able to trek for over 10 km uphill. She has been able to translate her new-found confidence into her day-to-day life and now leads a Taluk Disability Federation in Davangere.
   While climbing up the hill, Dawal Sab described, “I can trek and climb as much as you can, only I do it differently.”
   Govind, an outdoor leader in training, is orthopaedically challenged and has yet ventured and successfully climbed rocks in Ramnagaram. There are also numerous instances of the visually impaired climbing peaks.
   On the water sports programme, visually impaired Manjula described how she had read and heard about waves, but was experiencing it for the first time ever. When Sudha Rani paddled the coracle all the way from the island of her camp, she was on a high.
   As she plans to bring more and more visually challenged persons to the outdoors, she has been giving us tips on how to make the activity easy for the visually challenged.  
   Dancing with gay abandon around the camp fire, communicating with others and being a part of a programme involving people with disabilities provides opportunities for equal participation for the speech and hearing impaired too.
   Supraja Kaushik, an autistic child, has not let his situation deter him from participating in trekking and water sports. Now he relates swimming with life jackets and trekking with backpacks. The mentally challenged, who have participated with their siblings, have also gained a lot from outdoor programmes.
   The bottomline is that outdoors is a great equaliser, enhances confidence and helps to tune interpersonal relationships. They  are also therapeutic both at the physical and emotional levels.
   For details, contact 23409712.