Adaptive

ADAPTIVE PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN, TEENS, ADULTS, AND VETERANS WITH DISABILITIES AND SPECIAL NEEDS

Adaptive Bungee WheelchairThe Life Foundation’s adaptive program mission is to support the evolution of adaptive therapeutic recreation programs that positively impact the lives of people with physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral challenges throughout North America.

The Foundation will establish new and support existing adaptive summer and winter sport programs for children, teens, adults, and veterans that cover a wide-range of disabilities-physical, emotional, developmental, and learning. These programs provide people with disabilities and special needs with the opportunity to experience a variety of summer and winter sports, experiencing, among other activities, the thrills of alpine skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, whitewater rafting, kayaking, and rock climbing; the excitement of hiking, biking, running, and martial arts; and to discover the serenity of fly-fishing, yoga, theater, swimming, and hot springs.

 

Adaptive skier with childAdaptive programs offer far more than athletic skills and recreational experience. They build self-esteem and self-confidence, they inspire people to pursue their goals and aspirations, and they promote their independence. They also help build social skills, which help people of all ages improve their relationships with family, peers, and their community. They can also provide a vital, effective tool to help injured service men and women recover, both physically and emotionally, and lead happy productive lives.

Those benefiting from adaptive programs include, without limitation, children, teens and adults with ADD, Amputation, Arthritis, Autism, Behavioral Health, Bone Disorder, Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Deafness, Developmental Disabilities, Diabetes, Down Syndrome, Epilepsy, Fragile X, Hemophilia, Learning Disabilities, Little People, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Disorder, Muscular Dystrophy, Nerve Disorders, Neurological Disorders, Paraplegia, Post-Polio, Quadriplegia, Respiratory Disorder, Spina Bifida, Spinal Cord Injury, Stroke, Substance Abuse, and Vision Loss/Blindness.

 

Adaptive skier with young childThe Foundation will seek to promote connections among adaptive organizations doing complementary work, including nonprofits, government agencies, foundations, and for-profit entities working with people with physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral challenges, in order to advance best practices and build knowledge within the adaptive therapeutic recreation field.

Sometimes, several groups working in related fields do not know each other. There is much that can be done to alleviate this tendency and in some situations grantors have a unique overview that can help bring organizations together. We often see a larger picture and spot similar trends and needs. Through introducing nonprofits to each other across program and/or even international lines, some of these introductions will turn into wonderful collaborations, growing organically out of shared interests and complementary goals and resulting in shared work that advances the missions of all involved.

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