Padlocked Out Of Nature: Why Accessibility In The Outdoors Matters

 
For many people, nature is a place of freedom,

healing, and belonging. But for disabled people, accessing the natural world can often mean confronting barriers that others never notice.

Few stories illustrate this reality more powerfully than that of Welsh writer and disability advocate Bethany Handley.

Growing up in rural Monmouthshire, Bethany’s childhood was defined by the outdoors. She spent her days building dens in the woods, kayaking along rivers, hiking mountains, and surfing at the coast. Nature wasn’t simply a hobby—it was where she felt most at home.
Then chronic illness changed everything.
Over the course of several years, Bethany’s health deteriorated.

What began with glandular fever during her teenage years developed into a complex set of conditions that progressively affected her mobility. By the age of 22, she had climbed her last mountain. Within a year, she had lost the use of her legs entirely and became a full-time wheelchair user.

The physical challenges were immense, but what surprised her most was the sense of exclusion she felt from the landscapes she loved.
As she later reflected, discovering that she was “literally padlocked out” of her favourite places felt more disabling than many of her medical conditions.

The Hidden Barriers in Nature

When conversations about accessibility arise, they often focus on urban spaces—ramps, lifts, accessible transport, and step-free entrances. These discussions are essential, but they rarely extend to the countryside.

Yet many natural spaces remain inaccessible not because of the terrain itself, but because of human-made obstacles.
Stiles, locked gates, narrow kissing gates, and restrictive pathways can make entire landscapes unreachable for wheelchair users and others with mobility impairments. These barriers are often accepted as normal, despite excluding a significant portion of the population.

Bethany’s experience highlights an important principle known as the social model of disability. Rather than viewing disability solely as a person’s medical condition, this perspective argues that people are disabled by environments and systems that fail to accommodate different ways of moving, seeing, hearing, or interacting with the world.

In other words, the problem is not always the individual. Often, it is the design.

Redefining Adventure

Despite the challenges she faced, Bethany refused to surrender her connection to nature.
Through crowdfunding, charity support, and determination, she obtained equipment that allowed her to access outdoor spaces once again. A lightweight wheelchair transformed what was possible. An all-terrain wheelchair helped her return to mountain ridges she once thought she would never see again.

Her family also played a role in reimagining adventure. Her brother adapted a surfboard with handles so she could return to the sea and experience surfing in a new way.

These adaptations demonstrate something powerful: accessibility does not diminish adventure. It expands it.
Too often, society assumes that disability and exploration are incompatible. Yet disabled people continue to climb mountains, paddle rivers, explore coastlines, and engage with the natural world every day—when access is available.

Grief And Joy Can Coexist

One of the most compelling aspects of Bethany’s story is her willingness to talk openly about loss.
Losing mobility meant grieving a version of life she once knew. It meant facing inaccessible housing, extended hospital stays, and profound uncertainty about the future.
But alongside that grief, she speaks about joy.
Joy in watching birds visit a feeder. Joy in returning to a beloved landscape. Joy in writing, creating, and building community. Joy in discovering new ways to experience the world.
This perspective challenges the common narrative that disability is only about hardship. While barriers and discrimination are real, so too are resilience, creativity, and fulfillment.

Why Inclusive Nature Benefits Everyone

Making nature more accessible is not simply a disability issue. It benefits families with pushchairs, older adults, people recovering from injury, and anyone who may face temporary mobility limitations.
Inclusive trails, accessible viewing points, wider gates, clear signage, and adaptive outdoor equipment create opportunities for more people to enjoy the mental and physical benefits of spending time outdoors.

Nature belongs to everyone.

The idea that wilderness should only be accessible to those who can hike steep paths or climb over stiles overlooks countless people who value and need these spaces just as much.

Looking Forward

Today, Bethany lives in a small accessible home beside a meadow she is helping to rewild. She continues to write and advocate for a future where disabled people are not excluded from the natural world.

Her message is simple but powerful: there are landscapes that will welcome every body and every way of moving.

The challenge is not whether disabled people belong in nature.
The challenge is whether society is willing to remove the barriers that say otherwise.
If we truly believe that nature is for everyone, then accessibility must become part of every conversation about conservation, recreation, and public access. Because no one should be padlocked out of the places they love.