Chapel Haven accessible hiking group summits Lake Wintergreen park's western ridge.
Almost 30 members of the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center hit the trails this week through accessible hikes for people with disabilities, enjoying the views and proving that hiking is for all.
The hikes were made possible through partnership with two visiting organizations: Paratrek, an Israeli organization specializing in hiking trips and outdoor adventures designed for the physically challenged and the impaired; and Accessibility Accelerator (previously Friends of Access Israel), a disability rights advocacy organization.
On Wednesday, the group from Chapel Haven, a Westville-based community for people with social and developmental disabilities, began their second hike of the week at the trailhead of Lake Wintergreen. It was a full day of hiking, with four hours in the morning followed by another two in the afternoon.
The route for Wednesday would be a challenge: In order to get to views on the western ridge of the park, the group would have to traverse steep inclines and rocky terrain.
Jordan Ashby Photo
Key to making the route possible was the invention of a trekker adaptive sports device by Omer Zur, founder and CEO of Paratrek.
The device was born out of Zur’s desire to help his own father, who has been paralyzed from the chest down for the past 50 years.
“The one thing he loved the most before the injury was to go out and hike. He couldn’t do that for 35 years until I decided I was going to do something for him,” Zur said.
He tried all the solutions that were currently available, but none of them fit what he was seeking, so in 2008, he built his own model based around his father’s needs.
That same year, they spent 33 days backpacking in the Tauras Mountains of Turkey.
He wasn’t planning on bringing the device to market, but he realized during the trip both the durability of the product and the unintended benefits that he saw in his father.
“My father, as a person with disabilities, never let anyone help him with anything because of his pride,” Zur said. But with the trekker, “he had to let go, and he saw that not only does accepting help not make him smaller, but it makes him bigger too.”
Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo Photo
Andrew Burbank with Shir Segal and Ethan Peters, hiking in the Paratrek, which comes with different sized wheels for different terrain.
This week, the fifth edition of the same device allowed Chapel Haven resident Andrew Burbank to see views and experience places that would have been previously impossible.
“It is life changing,” Burbank said. “I never would have thought until I heard about Accessibility Accelerator and the Paratrek that I would do this kind of thing.”
Jamie Lassner of Accessibility Accelerator, who joined the hike on Wednesday, is fighting for universal accessibility, the idea that everything is designed to be accessible from the beginning.
He’s been traveling the world for his advocacy and now has over 1,000 members from 90 different countries united in the cause. Building a worldwide accessibility movement is at the core of his organization’s mission.
“Disability has no borders,” he said.
Jordan Ashby Photo
Andrew Burbank, Ethan Peters, Omer Zur, and Jamie Lassner.
At Chapel Haven Schleifer Center, wellness has become a top priority over the past five years.
“One of the things about Jamie and Paratrek is that they take away any possible barriers for our adults to get out and really hit the trails, to feel confident that they can get through a hike,” Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo, vice president of admissions and marketing, said on Wednesday. “Yesterday was six full hours of hiking. They were all smiles going home and they all came back today. They’re up for it, but just need support and coaching.”
Jordan Ashby Photo
Debbie Margolis and Megan Faitell.
The smiles were evident throughout the hike. Encouraging words from all sides, breaks as needed, and the teaching of a few Hebrew words from the Paratrek team kept everyone in positive spirits and confident in their abilities to finish the hike.
“It’s really cool to do new hikes,” Debbie Margolis said. “I’ve been here to do some hikes, but I’ve never done the one we’re doing today. It’s been really fun.”
Thank you to Paratrek and Accessibility Accelerator for making it possible for Chapel Haven residents to go on a hike. This is a wonderful invention to increase accessibility to nature.