Fishing and People With Disabilities- On the road

Fishing and People With Disabilities

Capt. Brad, cobia and author

There is a huge fishing constituency comprised of anglers who love the sport, but have a great variety of physical disabilities. And now, we are pleased to present the first in a continuing series of articles devoted to the fishing disabled by Chris Hofstader and his wife Susan. Even if you are an angler with no disabilities, I think you should find this series worth reading.

While on the Road…
By Chris Hofstader

People with disabilities are as likely to travel as anyone else. This page contains a collection of links to web sites about fishing with a disability and accessible resources around the world. Neither Susan nor I have visited these places yet so please do additional research before assuming the accuracy of this information.

United States

Kentucky
HandiCAPABLE Guide Service, Inc.
This group provides disability friendly fishing guide services. The site is very usable by a blind person. The page has not, however, been updated in over a year and I haven’t checked to see if the group is still active.

Maryland
Accessibility For All
This site, run by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), contains a lot of information about fishing and other outdoor activities for people with disabilities.

Massachusetts
Accessibility
This page, perfectly accessible to the blind user, describes a project to make more resources available on Cape Cod. I’m not sure how recently the page has been refreshed but it does talk about some interesting things. I recommend using this link more for general interest on the topic than as an actual resource.

Minnesota
Angling Horizons of Minnesota
An organization dedicated to disability and fishing. It contains a list of local events and seems like a very active organization.

Capable Partners Home Page
This is a highly informative web site covering all sorts of outdoor sports with a focus on participation by people with disabilities. The group, a non-profit, is based in the twin cities and looks like a fairly thorough collection of resources.

New York
Project Access
This web site contains a nice collection of projects for disabled fishing enthusiasts in Upstate New York. It has a strong focus on the Catskills but does have links to other locations. The site is usable by a blind person but is not entirely compliant with the WAI guidelines. It also suggests a strong bias for the Netscape browser who is nearly useless for we blind folks.

Oregon
HandiAngler's Corner
Here is a site describing a number of accessible resources for disabled anglers in Oregon.

Washington
CAST for Kids
This is an excellent web page describing a program for bringing disabled children out fishing. If you have a child with a disability and are planning on visiting the Pacific Northwest, I highly recommend this page.

Abroad

If you know of any other resources, which should be included in this page, please send them along to either Susan or me.

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