Inclusive Leisure Services: Results of a National Survey of Park and Recreation Departments
Keywords:
Inclusive leisure, ecological theory, people with disabilities, inclusion, training needsAbstract
While park and recreation agencies are legally mandated to
provide services to people with disabilities, relatively little is known about
tl1e accommodations public park and recreation agencies use or ilie
problems encountered when providing such services. This 1996-97 study
of public park and recreation agencies identifies accommodations used and
barriers encountered in providing inclusive leisure services. In addition,
this study specifies training needs as identified by tl1e respondents. The
study was undertal,en by tl1e American Park and Recreation Society
(APRS)/National Therapeutic Recreation Society (NTRS) Joint Committee
on Inclusion. In addition to gaining a comprehensive view of tl1e
current stan1s of inclusion, ilie Committee intends to use the information
to develop training programs and materials to assist public park and
recreation agencies in providing inclusive leisure services.
The two most frequently identified options for leisure participation by
people witl1 disabilities are inclusion programs and a combination of
separate programs for people witl1 disabilities and inclusion programs. The
major problems of implementing inclusive leisure programs are lack of
financial resources and constraints on staff, including lack of accessible
participant transportation, adaptive equipment, appropriate program placement,
accessible facilities, and resistance to inclusion by community
members witl10ut disabilities. Alack of staff training is also a limitation. The
repeated identification of similar barriers by park and recreation agencies
suggests that agencies may be unaware ot~ or failing to use, recommended
inclusion practices. Accommodations provided include pool lifts, reallocation
of classes to accessible facilities, adapted equipment, sign language
interpreters, braille, and cassette tape or large print materials and are in
large part funded through operating budgets. Registration fees, grants and
foundations, and special fund-raising are also used to fund accommodations.
The most ti·equently identified training needs are disability awareness
and sensitivity toward people with disabilities. This finding suggests a
possible willingness on tl1e part of staff to include people with disabilities.
However, staff appear to lack knowledge and skills to include people with
disabilities in programs, including lacking an understanding of their social
and emotional needs. Also noted as staff training needs are successfi!l
program modification strategies tor implementing and administering
inclusive leisure programs, behavior modification strategies, and updates
on state and federal regulations.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)
Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors
PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.
I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Park and Recreation Administration to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).
THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
Assignment of Copyright
I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.
Reversion of Rights
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.
Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes
I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.
All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact gbates@sagamorepub.com for further information.
In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.
Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.
Author Representations
- The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
- The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
- The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
- I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
- If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.