Karen Darke
Check out articles by Karen Darke
Guide Runners Help Blind Runners Train and Compete in Races
Guide runners can help blind athletes participate in recreational runs or support elite-level athletes. A blind runner may use an elbow lead, a tether, or simply run free, receiving verbal instruction from the guide. Guides also assist blind athletes with skiing and cycling.
Staying Motivated While Living with a Disability
Disability can leave you feeling defeated before you even start, whether you're looking for a job or just trying to live on your own. Read our helpful tips and resources to keep motivated.
Pressure Sores: Reducing the Risks
SCI patients know that when pressure cuts off the blood supply to an area, the tissue can break down and lead to a sore. Learn more about pressures sores, how to prevent them, and adaptive SCI equipment to keep wheelchair users comfortable.
Traveling to Tanzania in a Wheelchair
Wheelchair travel to Africa had always seemed too daunting a task, but the reality turned out to be much different than the author had ever expected.
Kayaking Venice with a Disability
Karen Darke, a woman with a spinal cord injury, discusses her wheelchair accessible kayaking adventure in Venice, Italy. Darke provides information about kayaking with a disability and accessible outfitters to help you enjoy the trip of a lifetime.
Handbiking Japan: A Land of Contrasts
Learn all about handcycling the length of this island nation, including hot springs nestled in mountain peaks, a bus stop storm where the snow served as a beverage cooler, and rainy days under cherry blossoms. Travel adventure!
A thousand miles of Alaskan sea and a group of kayakers, including two paraplegics, to negotiate it. You'll thoroughly enjoy this engrossing story of adventure, adaptation, and sheer daring in the wildest state of the Union.
Dizzy Fingers: Can I Climb Again?
Fourteen years after a climbing accident took the use of her legs, the author attempts to cling her way up a challenging limestone crag. What will give first: her will or her overtaxed fingers?
On Top of the World: Handcycling the Himalayas
Handcycling the Himalayas with three other women, Karen Darke extols the beauty of this mountainous country, accessible as of a decade ago. Learn about the trials and tribulations of this small band as they cycle their way through Little Tibet.
Paddling the Land of Fire and Ice: Icelandic Rafting and Sea Kayaking
Adaptive kayaking becomes an incredible adventure when testing equipment in the breathtakingly chilly coastal waters of Iceland. Find out what happens when a river raft flips; be there with the crew when they move on to calmer water at sea.
