Community recreation opportunities have also met new standards of excellence in inclusivity and design in recent decades.  Inclusive fitness classes, adaptive amateur sports leagues, and adaptive E-sports.  There are many simple changes, like increased court dimensions or the introduction of the double-bounce rule in wheelchair tennis, as well as small modifications like adjustable seats, modified paddles, and specialized grips.  But it is also more common to see advanced modifications in the context of community recreation, such as wearable augmented reality devices that provide audio and visual cues.  Alberta Parks’ Push to Open Nature initiative aims “to increase opportunities and invite the full participation of all Albertans in parks”, including barriered Albertans “due to injury, aging or as a caregiver to a loved one.”^[1]

In terms of accessibility of sport and recreation facilities, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta outperform the rest of the country on most measures, having accessibility features typically in between 80 and 90 percent of facilities across most categories.^[2] MNP Community & Sport Centre in Calgary, for example, has been recognized by the Canadian Paraplegic Association (Alberta) for its commitment to accessibility, from adaptive workout and high performance training equipment to  pool lifts, water wheelchairs, and wheelchair access throughout.^[3] Quebec has the poorest accessibility of the provinces and territories, by quite a wide margin.^[4] Access to public parks is highly variable across jurisdictions.  Three quarters of Ontario’s provincial parks have been modified to remove barriers to persons with disabilities.

SPOTLIGHT: Rocky Mountain Adaptive