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Overcoming Barriers

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Overcoming Barriers

You may be concerned that your son or daughter may not yet have the skills or understanding to:

• Recognize when they have free time;
• Know what they enjoy or prefer to do for fun;
• Know how to make a choice about, begin, and engage in a leisure activity;
• Manipulate play materials appropriately; or
• Play appropriately with other children.

While it is evident that many of the barriers faced by individuals with disabilities are external, a person with a disability is often times faced with constraints resulting form their own physical, emotional and cognitive limitations. These limitations or barriers reside within the individual and can be temporal or permanent. Often times these barriers that block fulfillment of individual needs, desires, and interests may arise or be related to causes such as parental over protection, inadequate educational opportunities or segregation from peers (Smith, Austin, Kennedy, Lee and Hutchison, 2005).

Intrinsic Barriers

1. Lack of Knowledge
2. Social
3. Health Problems
4. Physical and psychological dependency
5. Skill/challenge gaps

Despite an individual’s ability to cope with intrinsic barriers, environmental barriers may also prevent an individual from participating in recreation activities. These barriers can be physical such as architectural or trees and mountains, or these barriers can be imposed by society or economic conditions such as negative attitudes and finances. While an individual may be able to overcome intrinsic barriers through personal action because environmental barriers are imposed on the individual, the individual may feel helpless to overcome them.

Environmental Barriers

1. Attitudinal barriers
2. Architectural barriers
3. Ecological barriers
4. Transportation barriers
5. Economical barriers
6. Rules and regulations barriers
7. Barriers of omission

Even the agencies with the best inclusive service practices, and a welcoming atmosphere can be intimidating to a person with a disability. Being aware of these barriers allows your family to develop creative strategies to overcome the barriers. A Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (TRS) is an excellent resource to aid you and your child in overcoming both intrinsic and environmental barriers.

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