Get hundreds of outdoor professionals from field instructors to program managers, add in legal and risk management experts from across North America presenting top notch workshops and you have the annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference sponsored by the National Outdoor Leadership School, Outward Bound, and the Student Conservation Association. If you want to ensure that your program is staying on the cutting edge of managing risk, this is the place to be each year.

This year's Wilderness Risk Management Conference, help in Durham, NC, began with an inspiring opening address by Janet Zeller. Janet is the accessibility program manager for the USDA Forest Service, based in Washington, DC. She has worked in the field of accessibility for two decades and has worked for the Forest Service since 1991. She has helped develop and implement accessibility programs and policies at all levels of the agency. She also teaches accessibility and universal design for programs and facilities at a wide range of training sessions nationally. Janet explored the issues of including people with disabilities in outdoor programs in particular thinking about how risk management impacts inclusive programming. Janet has been quadriplegic since a 1984 accident and has been at the forefront of expanding access to wilderness for individuals with disabilities.

According to statistics there are 54 million people in the U.S. with some form of disability. Fifteen percent of those people have obvious or visible disabilities while 85% are people who have difficulty walking  but who don't use a wheelchair, or other mobility device; people who are deaf or hard of hearing; have low vision or are blind; or who have a cognitive impairment or a mental or emotional illness. Of the 178 million recreational visitors to National Forests each year, only 7.7% self-identify as having a disability.

Of the total of 192 million acres of US Forest Service land, 37 million acres are defined as "designated wilderness" which means without motorized or mechanical vehicles or equipment. This was part of the Wilderness Act of 1964. However, that law initially failed to address access by individuals with mobility impairments which 'technically' would have prohibited access by people in wheelchairs. Subsequent modifications and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act included a section (Title V Section 508 C) defines the parameters for types of mechanical/assistive equipment that can be used in designated wilderness by individuals that require equipment for their primary mobility .

Janet recounted how returning to the wilderness after her accident reopened a part of her life that had always been incredibly important to her. We all know that exploring the outdoors is a transformative experience, for everyone, so creating opportunities for access is essential. She stressed the idea that including people with disabilities doesn't create greater risk for programs. Access for anyone is defined by the Essential Eligibility Criteria (EEC) which is based on the the individual's ability to perform "the basic skills required for safety for that activity." It is important for programs to carefully evaluate the EEC for your programs which defines who can or cannot participate.

I think Janet opened a window for many of us as to the critical important of designing program activities that extend the power of wilderness to individuals of all abilities.

For more information see the USFS Accessibility Guidelines for Outfitters at www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/accessibility