Disabled Hikers

LGBTQ+ Pride exists because of intersectional community activism of Disabled, BIPoC, Q***r folx. Our communities are intertwined and a large percentage of LGBTQ+ people are also Disabled. We cannot exist without each other and have historically advocated alongside each other. But Disabled LGBTQ+ folx are more likely to experience discrimination and marginalization, and are left behind in outdoor spaces.

The outdoor recreation community is notorious for excluding our community out of thoughtlessness and bias and we miss out on opportunities that would improve our quality of life: emotional wellbeing, socializing, creativity, and more.

Disabled Hikers is doing the work of prioritizing Disabled LGBTQ+ lives and making access a priority. We celebrate and honor out q***r, gender nonconforming spectrum. Our work directly benefits our community with accessible group hikes, training, resources, and trail guides, and creating a culture of solidarity and respect.

Consider supporting Disabled LGBTQ+ members by directly donating to Disabled Hikers to help continue our underfunded work.

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As summer activities are here, we want to remind outdoor organizations, Pride organizers, and other event planners that hosting events exclusively at bars is not an inclusive practice.

We notice so many outdoor organizations and other community groups holding drinking-oriented events at bars and pubs, and often as the only public event for people to socialize.

There are so many reasons why someone may not want to go to a bar. They may be in recovery or they may feel unsafe in that environment. Bars are almost never physically or sensory accessible for disabled folks, and are too risky for immune compromised people. It is also very expensive to go out for drinks.

The popularity of events held at bars really speaks to us about the overall exclusion and entitlement that is an aspect of "outdoorsy" culture. It caters to the dominant idea that outdoorsy people are all white, abled, masculine people who feel safe in that environment.

If you are a part of organization that does this, encourage them to at least diversify the casual opportunities they offer for people to gather. And to drink some water. 🙃

Help Disabled Hikers Thrive in Pride! We are raising $2,000 to close a fundraising gap by the end of July, and we are 30% of the way there! As a small disabled and q***r led organization, we need your support.

This is definitely not the funnest time in history to be running an organization that is rooted in disability justice and led by impacted individuals, but we are committed to the work. Can you commit to supporting disability community and justice in the outdoors?

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far! You are helping us not just survive, but thrive!

ID: help Disabled Hikers Thrive in Pride. The word thrive is in rainbow pride colors and the word Pride is in disability pride colors. There is a progress pride flag graphic on the left and a disability pride flag on the bottom right. At the lower left text reads we've raised $620 of our $2,000 goal. Givebutter dot Com slash thrive dash in dash pride

We're very excited to celebrate the launch of the Forest & Washington Park Express Shuttle and LGBTQ+ and Disability Pride Months in Portland!

Join us on June 27 and July 18 for a disability community gathering at Lower Macleay. We'll hang out at the picnic shelter and take a casual stroll along the accessible trail.

The shuttle starts tomorrow, June 12 and runs Fridays and Saturdays. You can go from North, Northeast, and East Portland directly to Washington and Forest Parks.

You know where to go for details!

How many times have you tried to find accessibility information for a park online and had to go search for it, clicking through multiple pages hoping to find information? It happens to us almost every time. You pull up a park website and there is plenty of information about hours, rules, activities, and other things park visitors want to know. But the accessibility info, if it exists at all, is on a separate page buried somewhere in a digital cave.

This is not an accessible or equitable practice. Disabled people should be able to find the information we need just as easily as everyone else. We should be able to pull up a website and immediately identify where the accessibility information is. Segregating the information to a different section of the website is exclusion. Making us click through half a dozen times to find it is exclusion. Every park should have a section on the main page with accessibility information, linked out no more than once for additional details.

Simply complying with the ADA is not enough. Compliance is not inclusion, it is exclusion with a legally approved bow tied on it.

This is one of the reasons Disabled Hikers exists, and why our work is important. Providing detailed accessibility information for the cross-disability community, by people with lived experience and professional expertise, is radical. We want to do even more, and you can help by sup port ing us.

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Happy Pride Month! As you are out celebrating and resisting, remember that Pride would not exist without Disabled people.

Disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent people are at the core of q***r community, and not only statistically. Multiply marginalized q***r and trans people have always been at the frontlines of the fight for justice and liberation. That fight is what started Pride, and it is as important now as it ever was.

And yet, we are consistently excluded from q***r spaces. If you claim to love the community and to fight for LGBTQ+ rights, you can not exclude a huge portion of that community. We want more than pity disguised as "inclusion" - Disabled q***r people should be centered and leading.

You can help our q***r and disabled led organization thrive with pride by making a donashun where the clicks are found.

ID: Pride exists because of Disabled people. Background of the progress pride flag, with pink, blue, brown, and black stripes in the upper left corner, and red, orange, yellow, green, and blue stripes on the right.

Happy Pride! In celebration of Gay Pride this month and Disability Pride next month, we are launching a special fun-raiser.

Donashuns are down this year, and we need to raise $2,000 to close a fun-raising gap. As a disabled and q***r -led nonprofit, we need your support. We don't want to just continue surviving, we want to thrive!

Will you help us thrive with pride?

Info in the usual place! ID below.

Disabled Hikers is excited to partner with on the new, free Forest and Washington Park Express Shuttle! Starting June 12, you can take a shuttle from North, East, and Northeast Portland directly to Forest Park on Fridays and Saturdays.

We are hosting two community gatherings at Lower Macleay Park! Join us for a casual hangout and stroll or roll along the creek. Wheelchair accessible, masks required, and timed so you can easily arrive on the shuttle (or take paratransit, Trimet, or drive).

Details at the usual place!

ID: text on background photo reads Disabled Hikers community gathering, Lower Macleay Park Portland, June 27 July 18. Logo for the Forest and Washington Park shuttle in the upper eight. Disabled Hikers logo at the bottom. Photo of a paved trail along a creek.

Syren's story:
I have hEDS (and all of the commonly associated conditions). I experienced my first full joint dislocation at the age of 2 and then yearly (or more) all the way through my 20s. Much of my childhood was spent at the Shriners Hospital, and I was diagnosed around the age of 8 or 10.

Thankfully, as I've aged and learned how to care for my body, I experience fewer full dislocations. But EDS is so much more than hypermobile joints, and I still have regular subluxations, as well as all of the skin, digestion, sensitivity, and chronic pain and fatigue issues. My muscles are constantly working overtime to hold me together, and decades of injuries have taken their toll. I am in pain every day for a variety of reasons.

Hiking has not cured my EDS. While it has helped me build some muscle, it has also contributed to injuries. I know that I risk an injury on every hike, so I prepare as much as I can. Sometimes, it means prioritizing my mental health over my physical. When I feel consumed by my pain or the ableism of the world, being outdoors gives me a place to lean into and feel like I belong.

Because I do - and so do you. Our disabled bodyminds are natural. We are nature.

ID: Syren, a white nonbinart person, sits on a log bench in the forest. Syren’s dog, a small, long-haired terrier, sits next to them. The trailnis covered in golden larch tree needles.

Forever creating bad graphics so you know its not fake 😅

We believe there is no ethical use of generative AI. Generative AI are software like ChatGPT and generative tools within other platforms, like in Adobe and Canva where you describe something and the software creates it.

GenAI were trained on stolen intellectual property such as ebooks, blogs, and published art - including Syren's work.

AI data centers are causing extreme environmental harm, including draining ground water supplies and using massive amounts of energy, straining the systems that keep humans and more than humans alive. Communities are already struggling because of it, and utility prices are skyrocketing in part to pay for the increased usage and infrastructure.

GenAI is entirely unregulated. Some governments and agencies are rushing to catch up and put regulations in place, but its often too little too late. And it is becoming more difficult to tell the difference between what's real and what's AI.

To be clear GenAI is not the same as processing tools. Things like voice to text and grammar correction tools existed long before and were often first created for accessibility.

GenAI is increasingly forced on us, but we encourage everyone to be mindful of its use. Everytime you are tempted by it, just imagine yourself gathering a bucket of water from the river and pouring it down the drain then running every major appliance in your house for an extra hour, and ask yourself if it is worth that.

ID: text reads Generative AI with a red circle and slash over it. Background photo of a river with low water flow surrounded by trees.