People with disabilities often have a higher cost of living and cannot afford the very recreation that can lead to lasting impacts on their physical, cognitive, behavioral, and overall mental health. Access Unbound provides scholarship support to those individuals who need financial help, facilitating the mountain experience through world-class adaptive lessons.
In order to maintain the depth of specialized knowledge required for adaptive instruction, instructors must attend clinics and pass certification exams that tend to be cost-prohibitive. Access Unbound provides financial awards to instructors for attending focused trainings and obtaining advanced certifications, ensuring that people with disabilities have access to the highest quality of teaching.
Serving students of all ages with a diverse range of disabilities requires a wide variety of assistive devices and equipment. Access Unbound provides this highly specialized equipment, allowing instructors to effectively tailor support to the specific needs of their students.
When Luke was diagnosed with autism and speech delay at age 4, his family was unsure about what the future held for them. Years later, following the loss of his father, to whom Luke was very close, their therapist suggested they try including Luke in their family ski trip. Much to their surprise, Luke’s family discovered the magic effect skiing had on his autism. After that first trip to the mountain, Luke’s mother applied for an Access Unbound scholarship so that they could return the following season. Two seasons later, Luke was skiing down the mountain by himself, making turns and clapping all the while.“On behalf of Luke’s entire family, we want to say thank you again for helping us to see possibility in an impossible world of autism, to unleash the potential from a child locked in his own world, and to gain faith and strength from the special talent and amazing progress Luke showed us through skiing.”
– Luke's Mother
Luke is a 2019-'20 Scholarship Recipient.
