The wilderness can be very empowering for children and adults with disabilities and without disabilities.  Author, Richard Louv, wrote the book Last Child in the Woods; Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.  Louv has coined the non-medical, non-psychological term “Nature Deficit Disorder.”  Louv writes about how his children feel they don’t get to interact with nature as much as he did when he was growing up.  The following passage from his (2008) book describes how and why it is important for the younger generation to explore and experience the wilderness:

“For children, nature comes in many forms.  A newborn calf; a pet that lives and dies; a worn path through the woods; a fort nested in stinging nettles; a damp, mysterious edge of a vacant lot-whatever shape nature takes, it offers each child an older, larger world separate from parents.  Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.  Nature offers healing for a child living in a destructive family or neighborhood.  It serves as a blank slate upon which a child draws and reinterprets the culture’s fantasies.  Nature inspires creativity in a child by demanding visualization and the full use of the senses.  Given a chance, a child will bring the confusion of the world to the woods, wash it in the creek, turn it over to see what lives on the unseen side of that confusion.  Nature can frighten a child, too, and this fright serves a purpose.  In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.” (Louv, p. 7) 

For a person to experience the wilderness and feel the power of the calmness that encompasses a person, it must be experienced firsthand to understand the true value it holds.  This is what Footprints wants to provide to the participants.  Footprints Adventures Colorado Rock ‘N Splash trip is for 16-19 year olds and is scheduled for August 6-12, 2011.

If you want a good read about life and triumph then check out Kevin Connolly's book.

Double Take

http://kevinmichaelconnolly.com/

“Kevin Connolly has used an unusual physical circumstance to create a gripping work of art. This deeply affecting memoir will place him in the company of Jeanette Walls and Augusten Burroughs.”

– Sara Gruen

author of Water for Elephants

Kevin Michael Connolly is a twenty-three-year-old who has seen the world in a way most of us never will. Whether swarmed by Japanese tourists at Epcot Center as a child or holding court at the X Games on his mono-ski as a teenager, Kevin has been an object of curiosity since the day he was born without legs. Growing up in rural Montana, he was raised like any other kid (except, that is, for his father’s MacGyver-like contraptions such as the “butt boot”). As a college student, Kevin traveled to seventeen countries on his skateboard and, in an attempt to capture the stares of others, he took more than 30,000 photographs of people staring at him. In this dazzling memoir, Connolly casts the lens inward to explore how we view ourselves and what it is to truly see another person. We also get to know his quirky and unflappable parents and his spunky girlfriend. From the home of his family in Helena, Montana to the streets of Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, Connolly’s remarkable journey will change the way you look at others, and the way you see yourself.

Advance Praise for Double Take: A Memoir

“A courageous, immensely rewarding chronicle expressed in arresting words and pictures.

- Starred Kirkus Review

“Life’s most successful survivors meet adversity head on, with an unflinching eye, candor and with humor. Kevin Connolly has such an eye and weaves a rich memoir from the gut about his amazing journey through life.”

- Lee Woodruff

#1 New York Times Bestselling author of In

http://kevinmichaelconnolly.com/