About 3 million Americans use wheelchairs. Many of these people have physical disabilities that can make it hard to get around. Some have never been able to explore the rough trails in our country’s thousands of parks. But that’s starting to change.
This past fall, Georgia and South Dakota joined Colorado, Michigan, and Minnesota in a special program. The states started offering people with disabilities free use of all-terrain wheelchairs at some public parks.
These 500-pound chairs have powerful motors and rows of wheels with treads like tanks. They can travel through snow, mud, tall grass, and streams. And they can tackle steep hills and climb over fallen trees.
Johnathon Freeborn works at a Colorado park and knows the joy the chairs can bring.
“You see the look on a kid’s face who gets to play along our trails,” he says. “That’s why we do the job we do.”