National Research, Technology and Training: Implementing Recreation Design Concepts

These are exciting times. The changes that have occurred and that will occur for people with disabilities are of a magnitude similar to those changes occurring in Eastern Europe. The removal of physical and social barriers for people with disabilities are analogous to the removal of the Berlin Wall. As with the revolutionary changes occurring in Eastern Europe, the changes being wrought in the lives of people with disabilities in the United States are moving at a frantic pace, producing misinformation, misdirected efforts, and fears of what those changes will mean to the economy. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the means by which technology, research, and education begin to address the changes occurring in recreation for people with disabilities.