Eppley’s National Center on Accessibility Conducts Training for Tennessee Outdoor Recreation Professionals

Colleen Durkin-Blackburn and Kate Wiltz were joined by Ray Bloomer of the National Park Service in Tennessee’s Fall Creek Falls State Park in early April. Their mission: spreading awareness about the disability community and the ways in which parks and recreation sites can remove barriers to accessibility. The three-day training included both classroom and field-based activities in which the thirty plus participants applied accessibility and universal design standards to both indoor and outdoor settings.

Four people seated a table at the front of a classroom with two ASL interpreters and a sign above them saying “Personal Perspectives.”

Eppley’s Colleen Durkin-Blackburn speaking as part of a panel on people with disabilities.

Three people seated and working at a table in a large classroom.

Students at the training engaged in a review of products marketed as “ADA compliant.”

Four people facing a long paper taped to a wall in a classroom, adding colorful sticky notes.

Participants adding their “important dates” to the history of accessibility legislation timeline.

Several people at a boat dock, one of whom is using a tape measure decking.

Students worked in teams to evaluate barriers and solutions to accessibility of outdoor developed areas.

Evaluations from the training were positive and continued Eppley’s National Center on Accessibility (NCA) program record of accomplishment of delivering cost efficient and effective accessibility training nationwide.