To The Top - designing disabled-friendly challenge courses

* A belay cable over elements like the team wall initiative or a variety of low traverses. This allows for counter balancing, assisted hauling, help with balance, or an added measure of safety. It also provides a lower level of challenge that can be left out of the next attempt

* Make the height of horizontal elements adjustable. This shifts the emphasis from a physical up-and-over task or height-related challenge to some other team work component

* Multiple access routes to high elements. Make two or three options that range from less to more difficult and let participants choose. They may try the upper events again using a more difficult access route the next time

* Incorporate parallel components that anyone can use. A traverse element may have a log and a cable that run next to each other and participants choose how they want to negotiate it, or there may be very large climbing holds that constitute a route up a climbing wall with smaller ones next to them. This approach allows for exciting two person teams experiences on a variety of elements

* Design elements with dynamic characteristics in such a way that any movement of the element can be adjusted, compensated for, or completely eliminated. This can be done with large pins that secure the element, ropes/bungee that limit movement, handlines for balance, and adjustable stops that control the amount of travel

* Create clear options for goal-setting that occurs at various stages of the element. These could be in the form of extra exit/entrance points, extra platforms, or junctions with other elements. These allow for partial participation and diminish the idea that going all the way through or up an element is the only way to succeed.

The Future

There appears to be support for continued development of universal and accessible challenge course design. Builders within ACCT have been asked to continue experimenting with new ideas in this area. Since the 1997 workshop, their efforts have resulted in many creative approaches to universal design. Each annual ACCT conference includes presentations on this subject with builders sharing their designs. Universal challenge courses have also been represented at the annual NRPA Congress. More impetuous for this movement could be consumers requesting that challenge courses be designed to include people with disabilities and provide for universal experiences.

Even with access to a universal course, inclusion in challenge course experiences will continue to rely heavily on the knowledge, efforts, and attitudes of the facilitators who design and implement the programs (Havens, 1992). This indicates the importance of the training component that accompanies a universal challenge course product. The development of training curricula related to universal program design and the inclusion of participants with disabilities needs to become a priority for vendors so they can incorporate it into their training packages. This then becomes part of a complete challenge course package that includes a universal course, universal program design training, universal technical skills training, and training facilitators for universal inclusion.