Silver Willow in a Wheelchair?

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bennya

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Hey everyone,

New to the clay game and in a wheelchair (manual). I can get around most places on gravel, etc. but stairs are a no go for me. Can anyone shed some light on how accessible Silver Willow might be for me? I would love to get out there and get in some time...

Look forward to your help. thanks in advance
Ben
 
There are certainly a few stations with elevated platform that would be a no go for you. Most of the shooting is off wooden decks, no stairs but you might need a hand popping your chair up onto them.

Call Silverwillow, their staff are awesome and I am sure would give you better information then my lousy memory can.
 
scar270 said:
there are certainly a few stations with elevated platform that would be a no go for you. Most of the shooting is off wooden decks, no stairs but you might need a hand popping your chair up onto them.

Call silverwillow, their staff are awesome and i am sure would give you better information then my lousy memory can.
Click to expand...

x2!
 
Arent places required to be accessible? a friend of my families had his business destroyed and life ruined because there was a step to get into the washroom that couldn't be eliminated through renovation and somebody called the ministry of whoeverthe#### and got his whole business shut down
 
Not sure about the requirement but I can vouch for a lot of bathrooms I can't get into so if it does exist it must not be enforced widely? Sounds sketchy

I will give them a shout and let people know what I find out...thanks everyone
 
So I finally made it out last weekend. You guys were not kidding - the staff was super helpful and made it easy. We did a round with instruction and had a great day. We did the 10 station course and used a golf cart to make it easy getting around (save a bit of energy for shooting).

For anyone considering the same thing in a chair here are some notes

1) There are bathrooms that are big enough for you to fit in a wheelchair in the main building (don't worry about those ones you see outside with stairs).
2) You do need to be able to pop up on some small raised platforms (no bigger than 6" max I think) either on your own or with a hand from a friend
3) Getting around the course would have been challenging without the cart in my manual chair and I am pretty mobile. Mixture of gravel, wood chips and grass. Nothing terrible just be flexible
4) Have fun! I found the staff super helpful and excited to help me find what would work for me including help with choosing guns, seating position and posture (which is also dependent on the individual).

All in all, it was a great time and I cannot say enough good things about Silver Willow and the staff there. Our instructor was fantastic and we had a wonderful day. Happy to answer any questions or help out any way I can (I will just be busy over here shopping for my newest shooting sport)
 
bennya said:
So I finally made it out last weekend. You guys were not kidding - the staff was super helpful and made it easy. We did a round with instruction and had a great day. We did the 10 station course and used a golf cart to make it easy getting around (save a bit of energy for shooting).

For anyone considering the same thing in a chair here are some notes

1) There are bathrooms that are big enough for you to fit in a wheelchair in the main building (don't worry about those ones you see outside with stairs).
2) You do need to be able to pop up on some small raised platforms (no bigger than 6" max I think) either on your own or with a hand from a friend
3) Getting around the course would have been challenging without the cart in my manual chair and I am pretty mobile. Mixture of gravel, wood chips and grass. Nothing terrible just be flexible
4) Have fun! I found the staff super helpful and excited to help me find what would work for me including help with choosing guns, seating position and posture (which is also dependent on the individual).

All in all, it was a great time and I cannot say enough good things about Silver Willow and the staff there. Our instructor was fantastic and we had a wonderful day. Happy to answer any questions or help out any way I can (I will just be busy over here shopping for my newest shooting sport)
Click to expand...

Were you there Saturday afternoon?
 
I thought I saw a wheelchair. You guys were having a lesson on station 1 when we skipped past so as not to interrupt.

Good to see you out there enjoying a fine range with the great people there!

Kind of cool to see 3/4 people involved in the thread meet up(sort of) a year after the thread was started.
 
We applied for and received a grant several years ago when I was on the executive of the Rockcut Shooting Club to make the club wheelchair accessible. The grant came from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and with the help of many members and a local college hosting a construction course we made the place accessible. The college kids prefabbed and then installed a 3 tier ramp into the clubhouse, changed the washroom door dimensions and renovated the washroom. We connected the clubhouse sidewalk to all the ranges with concrete walks and made the trap, skeet and future 5 stand area stations connected with concrete for ease of moving station to station. All trap and skeet stations were made a minimum of 39" wide.
 
Wow! That sounds like a pretty great project to make things more accessible for people to get into the sport - also sounds like a smart way to get the work done. I have read about a few places in the US adapting to be more accessible lately - hopefully its a continued trend.
 
Right on, trap is a hell of a lot of fun, limitations or not. Glad to hear you've adapted so well.

Thenooblord said:
Arent places required to be accessible? a friend of my families had his business destroyed and life ruined because there was a step to get into the washroom that couldn't be eliminated through renovation and somebody called the ministry of whoeverthe#### and got his whole business shut down
Click to expand...

I think that is for anywhere with public access. On a closed, members only club I do not know if the laws are the same.
 
I think that most people automatically think that they cannot do it because of some limitation meanwhile both the people and the sport(s) are very accommodating. The hardest part is making your mind up to go and get involved. If you asked me I think we should do a better job of making a big deal about how inclusive the sport is. That would bring out more people to participate which is a positive cycle once it gets started.

Vets are one thing as they are more comfortable with firearms and likely have some friends in the sport. There is a huge audience that isn't aware and the general public would never know...
 
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