All Persons Trail: Lived Experience & Trail Testers

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Meeting accessibility standards and ensuring that your trail is accessible can be two different things. Accessibility advocates often recommend exceeding standards to ensure that the trail is meaningfully and practically accessible. Those with lived experience are essential to identifying potential barriers.

  • Include those with lived experience at every stage of your project.
  • Collect feedback at the design phase to save time and money later and to ensure that your trail is as accessible as possible.
  • Invite those with a variety of lived experiences to take part, to ensure that the trail provides an enjoyable experience for as many trail users as possible.

Tip: Before opening the trail to the public, invite trail testers with lived experience to use the trail for any last-minute feedback.

Three adults walking along a trail. 2 of the adults are using a guiding cane.

Be sure to engage trail testers with a variety of lived experiences. Photo credit: Mass Audubon’s All Persons Trails.

An adult with a dog leash in one hand and a guide cane in the other on the new Wascana Trail in Saskatchewan.

Reach out to local organizations like CNIB, as was done on the new Wascana Trail in Saskatchewan. Photo credit: Joe Milligan.

The back of an adult in a wheelchair on the trail with a dog beside him. An adult beside them is holding a clip board

People with lived experience should be involved from the planning to the final testing phases of your trail development. Photo credit: Mass Audubon’s All Persons Trails.

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