“You Feel a Sense of Accomplishment”: Outdoor Adventure Experiences of Youths with Visual Impairments during a One-Week Sports Camp

Abstract

There are many cognitive, physical, and social–emotional benefits for youths from participating in outdoor adventure activities. However, youths with visual impairments are not given the same opportunities to participate in outdoor adventure activities as their peers without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the outdoor adventure experiences of youths with visual impairments participating in a week-long sports camp. Thirty-seven youths with visual impairment (ages 9–19 years) attending a one-week sports camp participated in this study. Participants engaged in a variety of outdoor adventure activities throughout the week of camp (e.g., sailing, hiking, rock climbing, biking, kayaking). Participants provided written accounts about their outdoor adventure experiences and were observed throughout the week during each activity to examine instructional strategies and task modifications. Additionally, 10 randomly chosen athletes, their one-on-one coaches, and five outdoor recreation specialists participated in focus group interviews. The data analysis revealed three major themes: (1) Benefits, (2) Support, and (3) Barriers. The subthemes of benefits were enjoyment, independence, and relationships; the subthemes of support were instructional strategies and task modifications; and subthemes for barriers were fear and anxiety, exclusion and low expectations, and lack of equipment. These findings support the inclusion of youths with visual impairments in all outdoor adventure programming with appropriate instruction and modification.

Camp Abilities – an educational sports camp for children and youth with visual impairment: A systematic review

“…Finally, CA provides a research vehicle to study many themes such as participant characteristics and the testing of different types of innovative and adapted interventions for youth with VI, such as exergames (Morelli et al, 2010(Morelli et al, , 2011 or the pedometer with voice announcement (Lieberman et al, 2006). Although not analyzed in this article, the CA also permits qualitative studies to explore themes such as youth motivation, meaning of camp (Goodwin et al, 2011), integration of ECC (Lieberman et al, 2021), outdoor adventure experiences (Lieberman et al, 2023), as well as teaching self-advocacy (Lieberman & Childs, 2020).…”

Investigating the Possibility of Implementing Kayak-canoe and Rowing Topics in the School Curriculum for the Danube Delta Area

“…The implementation of outdoor sports activities (sailing, kayaking, hiking, biking, etc.) for young people in the USA with visual impairment (9-19 years) is beneficial through the positive effects found: relationships; enjoyment and independence (Lieberman et al, 2023). The use of thalassotherapy also has beneficial effects on physical and mental indicators (Munteanu & Munteanu, 2019).…”