I don't think it's about fairness, or inclusiveness, or kindness or understanding. I think it's about reality.
One instructor, eight students. That's a fairly commonplace ratio.
Supposing, supposing, I have seven fit and nimble and stable on their feet in what can be treacherous terrain, and one who will need careful oversight, at the very least, to just get about on the actual site, and that immediately takes attention away from seven others. It ends up being a constant awareness that distracts the Instructor's focus.
Those seven others also need oversight though.....and a duty of care, and responsibility, and they all deserve a good opportunity to experience and learn from the instructor.
So, the reality is that no one gets the best out of the course......and it's someone's livelihood, and it has to cover his insurance, his first aid re-certifications, his expenses, etc.,
Would I personally welcome having someone with mobility issues, even with an incredibly postive attitude, along on such a course.
The answer is simply that I'd rather not.
On an individual basis, it is very possible to do a one on one for an adult with physical limitations, who needs extra attention on a trickly site. I'd still like back up though. One bad slip and, well I couldn't lift and evacuate on my own. So that needs outside assistance, and if the Instructor has to go with the injured, even just to report it to next of kin, then the other students would find the course cancelled.
I have worked with disabled youngsters, teaching them bushcraft skills, etc., and the official guidelines meant that we needed three extra people, not just one on one for the child, but three extra people, to be properly situated to cover any potential problems. Admittedly those three people were still the extras for the next weeks course when we had two disabled youngsters, but when the next one had two disabled youngsters and one severely autistic as well, then we had five extra people on site....who all needed to be qualified, who all needed to be paid, fed, watered, etc.,
That's reality.
As an aside, the disabled children had a brilliant time
They loved it, their parents loved the delight they had in it all, the experiences, the way it opened up their children's world.
We built shelters, we lit fires, we cooked, we made stuff, we foraged, we took one wee boy out of his wheelchair (took three adults to do it safely) and laid him inside a shelter with the sun shining through the leaves. He was mostly blind, very deaf, couldn't talk, couldn't walk and never would, and he laughed in sheer delight. He fell asleep in that green space and looked blissed out.
HIs mum and I were in tears together when she came to fetch him home, and he tried to pull her to the shelter to see. We took photos for her through the week, and all in all the memories were worth all the effort everyone put into it.
But, there was no way that it could have been done as a bushcraft school, with all the financial realities they bear.
We managed it because we were employed by the Council's play scheme, and they paid for all of the extra bodies we needed on each site.
Even with volunteers, it needs something like that scheme to make it work safely.
Schools already face issues with students they don't know. People come with baggage, expectations, often unrealistic attitudes and self confidence that doesn't always accurately reflect their actual limitations.
Damned if they do, and damned if they don't. I don't envy the folks who run bushcraft and outdoor activity schools.
I feel heart sorry for those whose physical (and mental) limitations mean that they are often excluded.
I think it's time and place and an acceptance that it's often just not possible to be inclusive of everyone. Not in the private sector.
I personally know of four schools, and I am absolutely certain that there are many others, who will go out of their way to arrange things so that the otherwise abled folks can experience things though, but, they can't do it on ordinarily organised days. A mixed group is possible, but it needs careful planning and it needs extra staff along.
I have not only sympathy but empathy with the issues,
I am no longer safe on slopes. I can go uphill, slowly and in pain, but downhill, I fall. My joints just won't hold and there is no spring in them. R.A. is a £$%^& of a disease that slowly erodes any confidence in movement and exercise. I am unsafe on wet leaf littered sloping paths, seaweed covered rocks are beyond me now. I might manage if I scooted on my backside, but it'd be most uncomfortable, sore, and there's no way I'd expect someone else to have to help me.
I wouldn't even try to sign up for a place on a normal course these days. I might ask about doing a quiet slow morning or afternoon with someone who knows their stuff though
This is all a very different scenario from the kindness and compassion and practical assistance offered by able bodied volunteers. I know many of the members here who quietly just get on with it and help out without any fanfare. Blessings on them
and many of the quiet groups that meet up and down the country have members who needs a hand on occasion. No one makes a fuss of it, they just quietly get on with it.
Another kind of reality entirely
