Bowling Green nonprofit expands outdoor access for people with disabilities

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Kentucky nonprofit is working to make outdoor recreation more accessible by providing adaptive equipment to people with mobility challenges.

Wheelable Wilderness, founded in Bowling Green by Kent and Jessica Madison, focuses on helping people with disabilities access parks and trails.

Kent Madison, an avid outdoorsman who uses a wheelchair after being struck by a drunk driver at 17, co-founded the nonprofit after he realized he had limited access to many of the outdoor places he loved.

The program is raising money to help offer free rental and delivery of track wheelchairs — wheelchairs with rubber tracks instead of wheels — to people within a 200-mile radius of the Bowling Green area.

Their ultimate goal is to expand their rental program and eventually create fully inclusive campgrounds and outdoor facilities.

The effort mirrors a program in Indiana where the Department of Natural Resources bought 45 track chairs to help people with limited mobility navigate trails in Indiana state parks.

Wheelable Wilderness is currently looking for volunteers and is accepting both monetary and item donations. For more information, visit their website.