Recreation
Recreation can be anything from watching Television, to mountain climbing. Erik Weihenmeyer became the first blind man to climb Mount Everest in May of 2001. Below you will find organizations that help blind and visually impaired people get involved and stay active.
Here are a few of the activities blind and visually impaired people are involved in: arts and crafts, amateur radio, computer and internet, wood working, wrestling, weight lifting, judo, water skiing, cross country skiing, skating, swimming, fishing, track and field, bowling, basketball, baseball, volley ball, pool, biking, hiking, mountain climbing, sailing, camping, golf, scuba diving, windsurfing, horseback riding, and many more.
Links
- Accessible Computer Games – specifically designed for blind and visually impaired people.
- Access-Able Travel Source – Providing Access Information for Mature and Disabled Travelers.
-
American Blind Bowling Association
Judy Refosco
315 N. Main St.
Houston, PA 15342
(724) 745-5986
Membership group of blind bowlers, over 2,000 in the U.S. and Canada. They also sell bowling rails. - Blind Camps – They run camps for the blind in the USA and Canada.
- Space Camp – for Students with Visual Impairments. "Just because I can't see the stars, doesn't mean I can't reach for them" - Space Camp Alumni.
- United States Braille Chess Association – for chess enthusiasts who are blind or visually impaired.
- Descriptive Video Service – Making television and movies more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision.
- Handi Hams – Amateur radio and technology for people with disabilities.
- Virtual Volunteering Project – Volunteer activities that can be completed, in whole or in part, via the Internet.
- Blind Golf – Blind and Vision Impaired Golf in the United States and worldwide.
-
Music by Ear
704 Habersham Rd.
Valdosta, GA 31602
Phone: (229) 249-0628
Music instruction in audio format. "If you want to learn to play by ear you have to use your EARS, not your EYES." - North American Riding for the Handicapped Association – Therapeutic horseback riding programs.
- The Tandem Club of America – and international club for tandem bike enthusiasts.
- Theater By The Blind - A theater troupe based in New York city performed by visually impaired actors.
- American Blind Skiing Foundation – Skiing programs for visually impaired children & adults
- SKI FOR LIGHT – Cross-country skiing benefiting blind, visually-impaired, and mobility-impaired individuals and their guides.
- Blind Sailing International – Blind Sailing International is the governing body for competitive international sailing for persons who are blind or visually impaired.
-
Water Skiing – American Blind Skiers, Inc.
2325 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Phone: 213-828-5514 - Handicapped Scuba Association – Opening the sport of scuba diving to people with disabilities.
- National Beep Baseball Association – A small beeping sound module inside a normal sized softball lets blind people play the game.
- SABAH – Skating Association for the Blind and Handicapped
- Judo for Blind Athletes – Judo is one of the few competitive sports that the visually impaired athlete can participate in fully without major accommodations.
- Goalball – "Goalball is a highly competitive sport played three - against - three, indoors on a gym floor - primarily by blind and visually impaired athletes."
- Disabled Sports USA – They run nationwide sports rehabilitation programs open to anyone with a permanent physical disability, including visual impairments
- Challenge Aspen – they hold a number of sports related camps throughout the year for people with disabilities.
- Enabling Sport Foundation – A new sprot called rail riding. They have a park in New Hampshire that uses abandoned railroad tracks.
- U.S. Adaptive Recreation Center – Is one of the largest adaptive recreation programs of its kind, providing winter and summer opportunities for people with disabilities.
- United States Association of Blind Athletes – Competitive sport activities for the Blind.
- British Blind Sport – "Providing Sport and Recreation for Blind and Partially Sighted People."
- IBSA – The International Blind Sports Federation.