I go between being ambulatory or chair bound, got EDS, pots, chronic fatigue and what comes with it. What equipment or adaptation are there for hunting that make it easier? Like for good all terrain chairs, not dislocating your shoulder with a rifle and such? Is there a way to rent equipment for when you need it or borrow it or funds to help people get out in europe or portugal?

Curious if anyone knows of any adaptive sports ski programs that incorporate families/friends into lessons? Hoping to learn more about how to ski independently with my loved one with a spinal cord injury.

Greetings, at present there has been growing interest in getting more accessibility added to OpenStreetMaps.org (hereafter OSM) the means through which this typically happens is by proposing and getting approved tags that can be added to trails. For instance, the Internation Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) rating on OSM is mtb:scale:imba which goes from 0 (basically a sidewalk) to 4 (double black diamond). OSM also focuses on having tags that answer one question per tag and can be used worldwide. They try and stay away from regional or proprietary rating system.

I've been working with "The UNPavement Project" that developed a rating system for adaptive trails presently adopted by TrailForks but itself being an open standard and getting those same tags ported to OSM. Why? Because this frees the Adaptive Trail Rating from the TrailForks "walled garden" which to be clear I'm still glad they had been a champion of with over 1,000 approaching 2,000 trails rated. OSM is basically what all major MTB, Commuting, Gravel, CX, XC, etc. biking apps use on the back end with names including Strava, TrailFork, MTB Project, onX, AllTrails, Gaia GPS, Mapy.cz, Komoot, Goat Map, HiiKER, OutdoorActivity, and more use. Thus, having this data on OSM will allow a wider range of apps to include Adaptive into their trail data.

What's proposed?

I have proposed and placed in a Request for Comment (RFC) status a proposal to add one main tag and two add-on tags, each answering a specific question.

The main tag is mtb:scale:amtb with a 1-3 and no tag option and is seeks to answer one key question: "How much support do I need to have on my ride?" where 1 is minimal and 3 is up to 20% of my ride time is going to require support assistance. The 'no' on the other hand does not mean a trail is not rideable, it simply means that the amount of support required crosses the line between the activity being Adaptive Mountain Biking and if ridden would be Adaptive Mountaineering, which is a different level and type of activity.

Note, as most Adaptive riders know, this is a very different question from riding still, and it's entirely possible to have a IMBA Black or Double Black that is one big gnarly drop down a rock face that doesn't really require support just riding skill. On the flip side, there are some IMBA Greens that because of tight switch backs and tree gates could be adaptive '3s' on the above scale.

(A quick aside on subjectivity, because this comes up a lot, this rating is somewhat subjective just like IMBA for mountain biking and SAC for hiking are. The value of these ratings is not to be definitive answers, but to provide a 'gist' of what to expect and the preparation you would need. The reality is that this is a, "something as better than nothing," type of thing.)

The add-on tags are mtb:scale:amtb:inclusive which seeks to answer if a trail has been designed to some set of adaptive standards that should make them accessible to all Adaptive Riders. This is a yes/no question because in trying to be a globally usable standard there isn't a clear global/international standard making a trail adaptive. I've seen at least 3 in North America, with possibly the most well known being KASA which itself has 7 unique areas of evaluation which is good for a discussion around trail design best practice but less practical for knowing if the support question is more or less reliable as an inclusive=yes would let a rider know the Adaptive 'Support Needed' answer is much more firm, than no or absence.

The other add-on tag is mtb:scale:amtb:technical which likewise is yes/no and answers the specific question, "Are these technical features that an adaptive rider might need to be aware of on their 'pre-ride'?" for instance is there a bank that is adaptive friendly but will need a minimum speed to carry through, or is there a tight tree gate or bridge that will fit, but you don't want to be a surprise.

How can I help?

I'll need two things to get this officially added. First and presently I need ideally adaptive riders to look over the tag in its present state and give 'comment/feedback'. Basically, make sure we have the tags right and clearly defined. Is there something we missed or need to also answer, remembering this needs to work globally and is not trying to duplicate other existing tags like IMBA for ride difficulty as this doesn't really change for adaptive vs. non-adaptive.

In around two weeks if all goes well I'll also need votes, again ideally from adaptive rides, to support this getting added. (This is a bit harder for more niche groups even if they are accessibility in nature, unfortunately.)

To review, click the link below:

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposal:Mtb:scale:amtb

Then, if you have feedback, click the 'Discussion' tab at the top and select 'Edit Source' to add feedback. (Note: You'll need to set up or have a wiki account for OSM.)

What will this mean for the future?

The good news is that I have two people very active in the OpenStreetMap community that has offered to get this tag moved up to be more front and center if approved. One for the main web based ID editor and another for the opentrailmaps.us maintainers. So, if adopted, this can if nothing else cause more people to see the question and ask themselves to consider adaptive riding in their trail evaluation and more biking apps will be able to have low effort integrations to make adaptive a consideration.

As a pilot, the following areas have been tagged to give a gist of what this could/would look like:
NW Arkansas (Coler, Slaughter Pen, Back 40, & Tunnel Vision) https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1XM5
Moab, UT https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1XM4

Of course if you have questions, you can also post them here, but it's activity and input on the wiki that will help push this through.

Hi everyone, I am a student with a disability (Osteogenesis Imperfecta) working on designing better equipment for sled hockey players of all skill levels. I've made a survey to get a better idea of what needs players need, please fill it out and share it around if you have a moment, it would be greatly appreciated!

https://forms.gle/9YvhRRNenWzPsTgAA

The season started in 2024 but is still going and we are looking for people who want to join in!!

Rochester NY…looking for players.

Hey guys, I hope everyone is well and has had a great Christmas and New Years. As part of my honours project through university, I am designing a new belay device targetted to amputees within climbing. I'm currently conducting a survey to assist in the design process of my device, and I would greatly appreciate if you guys could take a few minutes to fill it in. In addition, it would be incredibly helpful if you yourselfs know someone who this device would benefit, and pass the survey over to them. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to DM me. Thank you to any and all.

https://forms.gle/pXYWwqHgMJSnoQjy5

Introducing myself and asking a question at the same time. I have low vision, no depth perception, can't drive or participate in typical team sports. At the same time I don't feel like I'm in the adaptive-sports world. You could say the adaptations I use for sports are the same as the adaptations I use all the time, plus choosing my environment carefully.

Specifically I walk a lot, have ridden a bicycle around the city in the past, and a skater friend encouraged me to try rollerblading which I love.

I have tried goalball which is an excellent sport, and skied in the past. Looking into sled hockey just for fun.

Would love to improve my bicycling (or motorcycling?) skills. Would also love to try blind hockey but we don't have a team and I need to improve my ice skating anyway. Scuba diving is on my bucket list but I don't know if anyone can make a mask with my prescription. The theme here is movement and balance, not compettition.

If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. If anyone is in a similar situation I'd love to talk. Thank you.

I work for an adaptive org and we are getting rid of some gear: an alpine biski, a xc sit ski, and eventually some tandem bikes and recumbent trikes once our bike mechanic has time to check those out. I think most will be free and a couple might be low cost, but would love to find a platform to reach people who could use this gear! I have searched online and facebook groups and am struggling to find one that would actually reach people. Any ideas?

Starting October 27, 2024 Unity Jiu-Jitsu School will be offering free adaptive jiu-jitsu and self-defense classes every Sunday from 1-2pm for students with physical disabilities, including people who are blind and visually impaired.

While Unity’s regular classes are open to everyone, and already include students with physical disabilities, we are excited to create a more inclusive space dedicated to offering adaptations and technique modifications that will provide specific, personalized tools for people with disabilities to learn effective jiu-jitsu and self-defense skills. 

Interested participants should fill out this form to register! 

I injured my shoulder skiing, or really, aggravated the over use injury caused by having used crutches and wheelchairs my whole life. I’m having such a hard time finding an ortho or PT who don’t just think I’m doing “really well for a disabled person.” Sigh. How do you find someone who understands that I won’t accept my shoulder deteriorating as just a part of every day life?

Anyone else here play power soccer? I play for a team called the DASA Cyclones in St. Louis.

https://dasasports.org/sports-and-fitness/competitive-teams/power-soccer/

Join SoCal Beep Baseball as they host a Try Beep Baseball Event in collaboration with Wayfinder Family Services and the City of Inglewood.

Saturday, September 7th

9AM to 12PM

Champions Field at Edward Vincent Jr. Park

Ages 12+

Register now: https://www.wayfinderfamily.org/beep-baseball-registration

https://maps.app.goo.gl/TPYXMcYeebNqga4W8?g_st=ic

OMG, I was looking for a sub like this. Even though this one is not very active.

So basically I have a congenital core myopathy, and about half my type 2 muscle fibers are atrophic. Not sure for how long already. Also exercising is so difficult that my body seems to skip fatty acids for energy and relies on glycogen. Which is limited, because atrophic type-2 fibers. So yeah, everyone else is better, but I still enjoy running, hiking, cycling, strength training and everything I can think of.

I wonder if there are other sources around the net that are a bit more active.

Good Day all, I'm ross burcheri, I'm a third year biomedical engineering student at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of technology) that currently has a project going on at the moment in Adaptive scuba equipment targeted for lower limb paralysis but also in consideration to non-armed divers, so anything that helps with arm powered/propulsion devices for a university project and you may see similar posts about this across a view forums to gain more information. IF your interested in this task and helping us help the SCUBA environment please PM me for the survey or your personal problems and experiences with these products that are currently on the market. This equipment is for our biomedical engineering unit and we are in our research stages of seeing what's around or potentially ideas of what's new that we can create. We're looking for people in or using adaptive scuba equipment this can lead from webbed gloves/ wetsuits or to the mechanical DPV's. All information is handy at this time. If there's personal things too, that you don't want to put on the the google form attached. I'm personally happy to receive DM's in regards to this task. This survey is reliant on lower limb paralysis however if it doesn't target you please specify where you can. Thank you for your time and reading this post and look forward to results

Looking to work toward a queer sledge team here in North Carolina to give us a safe place in sports. Please send a message if interested! For anyone who doesn’t know/ Sledge Hockey or Sled Hockey is an adaptive sport made for anyone who cannot play standup Hockey. The player sits strapped into a bucket with blades on the bottom and uses two half ends of a hockey stick with picks on the bottom to move yourself and used to hit the puck. Protective gear is also worn. There is always room for able bodied people who would like to learn and give it a try also, USA Hockey allows 2-3 of these type of players to a team for games and tournaments