P A G E 2
Fall 2011

1 2 3 4 5 6 

RISE Adventures
By Angela Love
Image of Angela Love

One day I was sitting outside Medical Center of Lewisville, where I volunteer, waiting for my bus to come pick me up so I could go home I notice a man, who was in a wheelchair, get out of a van and head to the front door of the hospital. He rolls over to me and introduces himself and begins to tell me about RISE Adventures. After this encounter the bus finally comes and picks me up and I head home. As soon as I get home I look up RISE Adventures on the internet. I was excited about this find because the night before I had been talking to a friend and saying I wanted to get out of the house more and this seemed to be fate.

RISE Adventures was formed on March 13, 2007. RISE stands for Recovery Inspiration Success & Empowerment.

Their goal is to create independence for the entire physically challenged population.

Their stated mission is "To help persons with physical challenges gain independence and become productive citizens through a therapeutic learning experience providing measurable results in adaptive outdoor adventures and sporting programs." Unlike most programs it costs nothing but time to participate in this program. They even provide the equipment. Of course if you have your own equipment you may bring that along with you.

RISE has many different programs to participate in. Some of these include: Airplane rides, camping, fishing, golf, hand cycling, hunting, kayaking, photography, rugby, sailing, scuba, swimming and water skiing.

For most of these programs you must make a reservation 48 hours before it starts. They are also working on adding boating, jet skiing, health & fitness and x games.

They also do seasonal activities such as Easter egg hunts and upcoming Halloween activities. I think it would be nice if they added bowling to their programs.

RISE also collaborates with organizations and cities to make their events more accessible to the physically challenged community. I believe this is a very important part of their program. With more awareness hopefully there will be fewer issues with accessibility.

Be sure and check out RISE Adventures at www.riseadventures.org. Here you will find the calendar of events and where to register to be able to participate in the events. Remember all participation is free!
SIDEWALKS - A SAFE PASSAGEWAY FOR ALL?
(cont'd from Pg.1)

Property owners are responsible for repairs and replacement of sidewalks that run adjacent to their property. Hazardous sidewalk conditions should be reported by calling City Services Dispatch at 3-1-1 or if you are outside the city limits by calling 214-670-5111.

Poor sidewalk conditions are not only a problem in Dallas. I run into the same problem everywhere. I've turned my chair over a time or two because of holes I didn't see in sidewalks. For some reason I rarely see repairs made to sidewalks.

Image of wheelchair on cracked sidewalkIn some older parts of town I've ran into other obstructions such as signs or telephone poles placed right in the middle of sidewalks. If I understand what the ADA says [2] Where there are sidewalks they must be passable for all. Unfortunately this just isn't the case. I'm not sure who in your city would be in charge of maintaining sidewalks. Contact your City Hall, they should be able to give you the information that you need to report any problems in your area. Let's try to get safe, passable sidewalks everywhere.