Arnold has been involved with Power To Be for about ten years now. The reason he was initially interested in joining Power To Be is rather inspirational to me: he wants to try everything once, and in doing so would place himself in a position to better explain why he does/doesn’t like a specific activity. For example, kayaking was never on his radar (as Arnold is afraid of deep water), but after trying kayaking with PTB he ended up loving it! His point and message are this: “It’s really important to try something before you decide whether you like it or not.”
Arnold’s favourite activities with Power To Be are also the ones he least expected to enjoy: in the summer it’s kayaking (as mentioned above) and in the winter it’s sit-skiing, despite his dislike for the cold, for snow, for mountains…this initially surprised him as he never would have tried these activities on his own without encouragement from Power To Be. He believes the staff provides the necessary support and encouragement for participants that they “can do” an activity. The staff “know what to ask, what to look for, and have a good sense of camaraderie and communication between participants and staff.” For Arnold, Power To Be“makes things unlikable, likeable.”
A program highlight for Arnold is our skiing trip to Whistler in January 2019. He had already taken a couple of runs and was heading back up the gondola for another. He looked into the distance and saw a giant slope, with people all over the place getting stuck trying to work their way down. “WOW” thought Arnold. Unbeknownst to him, it would be his last run of the day! On his way down, he realized the steepness of the slope as with each turn his uphill elbow would touch the snow. It was nearly vertical! Once at the bottom, he recognized for the first time that it was the slope he had seen from the gondola. It was cool to know that he had done it – if he were told ahead of time which run it was, he would have refused to ski down. Power To Be pushes his limits “whether he likes it or not”, and he was certainly pleased with this accomplishment!
It is always a pleasure having Arnold on program or supporting Power To Be in other capacities. Not only is he full of random, “weird” facts (you definitely want him on your trivia team!), he also recently wrote a heart-felt and compelling letter of support that contributed to securing a grant for Power To Be’s first sit-ski! Thank you for being such a supportive and important member of our community.
Arnold is an accessibility consultant and is the founder and owner of Spectrum Ability, an accessibility consulting firm that specializes in universal design and assessments to improve a location’s accessibility for all users.
