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Background

By Kimberly Hannon

One of the many things the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 seeks to do is provide people with disabilities equal opportunity and full participation in everyday activities. The ADA mandates access to public programs and services, including municipal parks and recreation departments. An intergovernmental agency known as Municipal Partners for Inclusive Recreation (MPIR) in St. Louis County, Missouri, has used the ADA to change the way parks and recreation departments participating in MPIR provide opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in existing programs. MPIR has succeeded in achieving equality of opportunity and participation in recreational activities since the early 1990's.

The goal of this monograph is to introduce a successful inclusive recreational program in St. Louis County and highlight the components of the program. This information may assist other recreation providers in providing similar programming opportunities or program modifications to its community members with disabilities.

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This fact sheet was last updated on 01-23-2006.