Fall is my favorite time of the year and it’s almost here! I love watching the leaves transform into beautiful orange, yellow, and red colors. It’s also something about the briskness in the air during the fall season that sets my mood calm.
As fall approaches, I tend to look for accessible activities to enjoy celebrating the season of change. I love apple cider and conquer the Apple Festival; the Festival’s physical accessibility and location are pretty good. The Octoberfest is another good festival filled with great food, drinks, people and live music. The accessibility features are ok but every once in a while visiting different booth’s; I have to plow my way over power cord covers. Power cord covers are a major pain and somewhat dangerous if you use a mobility device. This power cord cover dilemma challenges me at many of the other festivals too.
Public parks are fun, but often hard to access. My scooter doesn’t run well on grassy areas. Still, I’m willing to go so I won’t miss out on fun activities during my favorite season.
I wondered how others with disabilities enjoy the fall season so I summon a few of my friends to share;
Tambie – I very much enjoy the fall weather. I try to take advantage of as many outside activities as I can. One of my favorite things to do in nice weather is to bike. I rode my bike everywhere when I was younger. But as my vision declined, I was no longer able to navigate the roads safely. When I met my “to be” husband in college he was an avid bike rider. When we married, he bought us a 21 speed tandem bike so we could ride together. We have had so much fun over the years riding. When our kids were little, we had the bike extension so we could all ride together. We still ride our tandem bike and are really enjoying the bike paths all over Ohio.
The purchase of our tandem bike was a simple “fix” for otherwise known as an accommodation; it has allowed me to continue to enjoy biking. There are many individuals who are blind or visually impaired who enjoy engaging in a variety of physical activities such as biking, running, skiing, kayaking etc. Sometimes just the assistance of another person to be a guide will allow them to participate in these activities.
Linda – I spend time sitting on my front porch feeling the air bathe my cheeks. Outings with my Seeing Eye dog Abby mean taking nice walks because we both adore cool weather. The heat of summer is unpleasant, so the approach of fall brings out my energetic spirit. Hot drinks and the scent of all things pumpkin wake up my senses. Fall is the Season I look forward to because it means cool crisp air and fun filled Festivals.
I am totally blind, so I have never seen color; yet, descriptions of this season help me imagine its beauty. Time spent with friends and family at the Hispanic festival and passing out candy to costumed trick-or-treater make me wish for just one Season.
Shannon – Although, we’re entering fall, I’m still in a summer state of mind. In order to enjoy typical summer cook outs, since my fiancé and I both use wheelchairs, we have found it easier to move everything to concrete instead of grass. A few years ago we bought a small portable grill that we still use to this day. It is much easier to use this, as it is just the two of us eating. We are able to put it on a table or on milk crates for easier access. It is easier to reach rather than using a huge grill that is usually out of reach for us. We also have fire barrels that we keep close to concrete if we want to have a bon fire. We live outside the city limits so we have these frequently. Those are just two ways we have adapted some fun summer activities in order to make it easier to relax and have fun, instead of having to worry about how we are going to get around, like we would have to in your typical cook out environment.
As you see, we let nothing hold us back from enjoying the fall or any other season. Take a lesson from us, and make this fall a season to remember.
Hi Shari! I am on the board at the Dayton Art Institute so I help plan the Dayton Oktoberfest! I would love to hear your ideas on how we could make the event more accessible so I can bring some ideas to the board for planning next year!
Jessica,
I would love to share some accessible ideas with you for Oktoberfest! Thanks!
I enjoyted reading Shari Tambie and Shannon’s appreciation of the season. Shannon, your writing makes me hungry. lol Shari, thank you for asking me to talk about my favorite season. Tambie, tandem biking is wonderful!
Linda,
Thanks for sharing your insight on the blog! Everyone’s perspective was great!