Loaner outdoor wheelchairs are available at no cost to the physically challenged.
Monica and Steve Spaeni moved to southwestern Wisconsin this fall but their positive influence was evident here and across the state long before they arrived. Monica is President of Access Ability Wisconsin, a charitable non-profit group whose goal is to place free, motorized outdoor wheelchairs in every county of this state for people to use for free.
With 72 counties in Wisconsin, AAW recognized the value of teaming up with other partners to help achieve that goal.
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation stepped up. Its new Executive Director Mark LaBarbera knew AAW and had actually set up a chair host location covering Grant and Lafayette Counties through a charitable nonprofit group he founded more than 24 years ago, the Outdoor Heritage Education Center.
AAW and WWF signed an agreement that leverages the Federation’s grassroots statewide network of 211 affiliates. Some of them are becoming host locations. Other WWF-affiliated organizations are helping to identify additional host locations and volunteers.
At a time when COVID-19 leaves people feeling cooped up, and even now for people who don’t go into an office and others who avoid crowded indoor settings, Spaeni said, “We have a solution that is increasing independence, increasing social interaction, and decreasing depression. Regular wheelchairs are like our shoes; the outdoor wheelchair is like our hiking boots.”
AAW now has more than 20 chairs available for use in Wisconsin, and continues to raise funds to buy and place more outdoor wheelchairs, Spaeni told TV host Dan Small during taping of “Deer Hunt Wisconsin” TV show which airs in five states.
“The key now is finding partners to host the chairs,” she said while filming the TV special on the couple’s 27-acre homestead near Belmont.
Fred Jerrett knows how important it is to have local hosts. He has been traveling from Prairie du Chien to use the free AAW chair hosted by the non-profit Outdoor Heritage Education Center near the Grant and Lafayette County line.
He beamed with independent pride and free-wheeling optimism as he draped a big turkey across his lap, nearly covering the entire Action TrackChair.
He used the same loaner chair and By Pat Scuzzinenclosed trailer for free during deer season. He took full advantage of the battery-powered outdoor chair by using it to also drag his deer back to the vehicle.
Jerrett is one of 500,000 people who have some sort of disability which limits their access to the great outdoors. There is no shortage of places to go, IF you have mobility. Wisconsin has 5.7 million acres of public land and many more acres of private property.
Able-bodied and physically challenged individuals alike are escaping their homes to enjoy healthy activities among America’s natural resources. Free access to outdoor wheelchairs is a welcome escape for some and a lifesaver for others.
Using the same OHEC AAW chair recently, John Rupp wheeled into the familiar Izaak Walton League of America club grounds, grabbed a shotgun, ear protection and box of shells, and headed to the trap range. It was the first time in a long time that he didn’t need any help.
He had always enjoyed the camaraderie at the Southwest Wisconsin Chapter’s weekly gatherings. In the past, he could walk to the raBy Pat Scuzzinnge, break clay targets, and enjoy burgers, banter and, after shooting, beer with his fellow chapter members and his family. That changed a few years ago when a large bale he was stacking with his tractor’s front-end loader tumbled onto him, breaking his back and paralyzing him from the chest down.
John’s life changed forever.
The healthy, middle-aged outdoorsman had to re-learn the basic tasks of everyday life in a wheelchair.
He wasn’t accustomed to living with limited mobility.
After a while, he mastered the new routine and puDuring filming of Deer Hunt Wisconsin TV special, Dan Small teamed up with Monica Spaeni of Access Ability Wisconsin at her new home near Belmont.shed himself to get back to hunting and target shooting, sometimes feeling like he was a burden on his wife and his adult boys who helped him do things and go places he was no longer able to enjoy independently.
It’s good to be alive, surrounded by family and friends, John would say, counting his blessings.
“You never know what can happen, anytime, to change your life,” he said, “so enjoy America’s great outdoors and family and friends every opportunity you get.”
Rupp volunteered to host the first AAW loaner chair in southwestern Wisconsin which can be picked up from his home in Cuba City.
Picture a five-speed wheelchair with tank-like wide rubber tracks on each side, controlled by hand-size joy stick on the chair’s arm rest. On-board batteries and dual electric motors with a charger and inverter provide plenty of power. The chair plugs into a regular outlet for recharging in its trailer.
John met Monica and Chad Hermanson, who sells outdoor wheelchairs. All three of them use chairs and love the outdoors. They gathered to shoot trap at the IWLA club grounds south of Platteville. It is not an easily accessible trap field for most wheelchairs because of grassy hills and a gravel parking lot.
But the three shooters navigated their Action TrackChairs easily.
Photos and videos from that outing and others have generated positive publicity about the program and helped other potential users learn about AAW.
Media coverage has received national attention.
You could say that AAW is on a roll.
In addition to being awarded in recent years Safari Club International’s Pathfinder Award, she was recognized nationally as a Purpose Prize winner from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
“To Safari Club International, a pathfinder is a person who is faced with challenges in their life that causes them to find new ways to live it, to overcome those challenges, and to be engaged in outdoor activities,” Monica said. “ It is an honor to be the second woman to win this Pathfinder Award in the 41 years of this organBy Pat Scuzzinization’s existence, and I appreciate the support I received from all of my mentors, friends and family.”
When she received the AARP honor, she said, “Everybody should be able to enjoy the benefits of outdoor recreation with their family and friends. Getting into nature improves self-esteem and well-being, fights depression and isolation, and enhances social bonds. But once you have a physical disability, your choices are limited. The mission of AAW is to enable individuals with various types of mobility issues to get outdoors and off the beaten path. We raise money to provide outdoor adaptive equipment such as all-terrain wheelchairs, adaptive kayaks and hand cycles, which are prohibitively expensive for most people to own. We purchased the first outdoor wheelchair in 2014.”
Monica was not a hunter or gun owner before the skiing accident that severed her spine. Now she is an avid hunter and mentor who has risen among the ranks of the Wisconsin Hunter Education Instructors Association (WHEIA).
That day on the slope, when she was making one final run as a chaperone on her son’s field trip, started a chain of events that eventually motivated her to attend a Becoming an Outdoors-Woman event. Being in a wheelchair, feeling vulnerable, she wanted to learn about firearms and self-protection.
BOW’s Diane Lueck and Peggy Farrell welcomed her.
“They were great!” she said, “and they got me interested in more than just getting a concealed carry permit.” Monica got involved with groups like WHEIA, Pheasants Forever and Oregon (WI) Sportsman’s Club (OSC).
“In 2012, I participated in an outdoor event using a borrowed all-terrain wheelchair, independently traversing the cornfield and marsh all by myself. It was an incredible feeling, to be free, independently ‘walking.’ I hadn’t experienced such freedom since my injury,” she told AARP.
“After using a chair on a pheasant hunt, I started thinking about how we could make chairs like this available to more people who want to spend more time outdoors doing things like this, or just being able to walk their dog, go birding or fishing, or whatever,” she said.
With two master’s degrees and boundless energy, she clearly is not one who abandons a good idea. Instead, she spearheaded creation of AAW as a Dane County PF initiative in 2014 and then as its own charitable nonprofit 501(c)3 organization in 2017.
AAW’s early supporters included Mike Hay, the late husband of Connie Curwen, whose family owns hundreds of acres along the Fever River south of Platteville. The former WHEIA instructor lost mobility and had a great appreciation for the freedom the outdoor loaner chairs provided. Hay initiated talks that resulted in Outdoor Heritage Education Center and Rupp hosting the Platteville-area chair.
For more information or to host or donate to this program, contact aaw@accessabilitywi.org.
By Pat Scuzzin | Photos: Mark L | Cover Photo: Shooters enjoyed the Izaak Walton trap field near Benton.