Video Archives - Nature: Accessible for All

Kristen Wilson, RN, BSN, CSN, is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Get Out There with Acquired Brain Injury (GOT ABI). With over thirty years as a Registered Nurse, Kristen brings a wealth of professional experience, including holistic nursing, rehabilitation and nursing education.Jake, Co-founder of GOT ABI, is a brain injury survivor who sustained his injury five years ago at the age of 17 and is now 22. His lived experience profoundly informs GOT ABI’s mission.

Together, they lead GOT ABI, a New Jersey 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young adults with acquired brain injury through socialization, education, advocacy, and awareness. Thanks to a stipend from the Pinelands Preservation Alliance: Nature Accessible for All campaign, GOT ABI proudly offers accessible walks for brain injury survivors, caregivers, and supporters. Recap this forum, to learn about their organization, their stipend project, and its objectives and outcomes.

Recap the Access Nature Forum with Flat Rock Brook Nature Center. The nature center is a 150-acre preserve in Englewood, NJ (Bergen County) with 3.6 miles of trails open and free to the public from dawn to dusk daily 365 days a year. Flat Rock Brook is committed to ensuring our preserve and our facilities are as accessible to all as possible, and would like you to join us to meet our team and hear about our projects and plans.

The discussion will include how they are making nature accessible, topics will cover:

Accessible Trails
Nature Playground
Restroom Facilities
Bridge and Pathways
Gazebo and Picnic Areas
Parking

In this Access Nature Forum we hear from Dr. Natalie Schultz-Kahwaty; Director of the Dance for PD program at Rutgers University – Mason Gross School of Music. Which received a stipend from PPA’s Nature: Accessible for All campaign. The stipend intends to enable Mason Gross to offer free programs for individuals with disabilities to participate in activities at the Rutgers Botanical Gardens and the Accessible Garden in New Brunswick, NJ. In this forum, we will hear about the project and its planning, implementation, and its outcomes.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided a grant to fund the work of PPA and its partners in launching and sustaining the Nature: Accessible for All campaign. The Campaign is a collaborative effort by individuals, public agencies, and nonprofits to ensure that people with disabilities, their families, and allies can and do enjoy New Jersey’s extraordinary natural places.

In this video Access Nature Disability Advocate Sean Holland takes the GRIT for a spin on the beach to test what the capabilities of our new mobility assistive equipment is, for our inclusive nature programs.

In this short clip, we follow one of our Pinelands Adventures educational staff Monica, who leads a group of students from Kingsway Learning Center on one of our trial inclusive eco-tours at Atsion Recreation Area.

This was a tough test for Sean too, traversing this section of removed cranberry bog road. We were ready to give him assistance, but he was determined to conquer this formidable obstacle under his own power. This was a good 40ft long section of soft sand at about a 20/25 degree slope. Absolutely no way your typical chair could traverse this. We didn’t even attempt to try our power chairs on this, it would have fried the motors.