Approximately 1/3 of all park and recreation professionals throughout the state of Illinois strive to provide quality recreation services to all residents within their community including the handicapped and disabled — a group of individuals who, most will agree, have not been a vocal group demanding services. The next logical question might be to ask ourselves, "Why serve this group if there isn't expressed demand from participants?"

All park and recreation professionals should take a moment to consider that question. The 1986 Survey of Disabled Americans conducted by Louis Harris & Associates reported that, "nearly 2/3 of all disabled Americans never went to a movie in the past year, while only 22% of all disabled never went to a sports event during the last year, compared with 50% of all adults."

Realization of the fact that 2/3 of all disabled Americans between the ages of 16 and 64 are unemployed should send a signal to park and recreation professionals. Here is a group of individuals who may, in fact, need more recreation opportunities than our non-disabled residents.

Most of us in the park and recreation profession are untrained to provide quality recreation programs for our handicapped population. Specialized training is necessary for one to understand the various disabling conditions and how to adapt recreation programs to meet the needs of our handicapped residents. So what can we do?

Any park district or municipal recreation department have several options to select from to serve their handicapped residents. A district can choose to provide programs themselves or can elect to form or join a special recreation cooperative, as 122 communities have done in the state of Illinois.

A national survey estimates that 10% of the population is handicapped or disabled. The problem for the park district comes in identifying this population and then educating them as to what kinds of recreation programs they can participate in. Those of us who have been involved in providing recreation for the handicapped for 10 years or so have come to understand the need to actively pursue or seek out our disabled population. It is simply not enough to produce an attractive brochure — you must also consider each individual's specific concerns, and address them before they will most likely participate in programs. The Louis Harris Poll reported that "the disabled feel that their disability limits their social life because they have a fear of getting hurt, sick, or victimized by crime. Fifty percent reported that an inability to use public transportation severely/negatively impacted their ability to participate in activities."

Park district officials must address these issues as they evaluate how they want to provide recreation services to their handicapped residents. The 122 park districts and recreation departments in Illinois elected to join or form special recreation cooperatives in lieu of providing programs on their own for several reasons:

1. State legislators have given park districts and municipalities the ability to levy a special tax to provide special recreation because they believe a special recreation cooperative is the most efficient way of providing service. These funds no longer have to come out of the general recreation fund. Each community that joins an SRA levies its tax based on an agreed upon rate — up to a maximum of .04 cents. This rate multiplied by the park district assessed valuation equals the dollars that the district contributes. These dollars are contributed to the SRA to provide the necessary monies for operating programs.

2. A cooperative allows you to increase your population base and therefore provide recreation programs to homogenous groups of disabled.

3. A cooperative provides the opportunity for neighboring districts to pool their resources and use a variety of facilities that may not be available within one district, i.e., therapeutic pools and ice arenas.

4. Levying the tax dollars provides the resources to hire qualified therapeutic recreation staff; some of the most dedicated and caring people in our profession who understand what it takes to identify and serve this needy population.

It may have been acceptable 20 years ago, prior to the legislation, for park and recreation professionals to overlook serving their disabled residents, but today there is simply no excuse. We now know, thanks to research, that the disabled do not advocate for their own recreation but, in fact, are very much in need of social outlets. Committed park and recreation professionals accept that fact and do something about it. They take steps to provide recreation services to all of their residents, vocal and nonvocal.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Greg Meyer is Director of the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, a member district of the South Suburban Special Recreation Association for 15 years.