Community Mobility & Adaptive Biking
Building access, confidence, and meaningful participation in the community.
Adaptive Biking
CommuniKeys is building a supported community mobility pathway for nonspeaking autistic adults and others who need reliable communication access. Adaptive biking is our starting point. With ARO, participants have begun trying recumbent and tandem cycles, practicing in familiar settings, and exploring local trails alongside caregivers and staff. We prepare for each ride with equipment fitting, route and safety planning, communication support, and room to pause or change course. The purpose is meaningful access to movement and community life, with participation shaped by each person’s choices and supports.
Participation Can Look Different
A participant might observe the equipment, explore how a cycle feels, practice near a trailhead, ride tandem, choose a shorter route, pause, or try an individual cycle. Tandem riding is meaningful participation in its own right. Progress does not have to mean doing something alone.
Building Skills Through Real Experience
Familiar routes and repeated opportunities help participants learn what to expect and make choices about their own participation. We introduce equipment and environments gradually, prepare for sensory and communication needs, and practice the movement, safety routines, and community navigation involved in an outing. Each experience gives us information for the next one.
A Scaffolded Pathway
Exploration → Engagement → Skill Development → Contribution
Someone may first explore a bike or trail, then participate with a partner, practice a familiar route, and help shape future outings. These are flexible opportunities, not a checklist or a promise of independent travel. Communication access and participant choice belong at every stage.
Families and Support People Are Part of the Experience
Caregivers and support people ride, walk, prepare, communicate, and learn alongside participants. Their presence helps make a new experience familiar and accessible. CommuniKeys activities are not drop-off programs; each participant attends with a caregiver or support person who can assist with their individual needs.
Community Partnerships Expand What Is Possible
Adaptive Recreation Opportunities has helped participants try recumbent cycles and supported rides in Fort Collins. DriveWays contributes a separate, individualized community navigation experience. We continue to learn from these activities while developing practical routes, safety supports, and community connections for biking. We describe each activity according to what has actually been tested.
Building Shared Access to Adaptive Equipment
Today, our biking experiences rely on partner equipment. We are working toward a small shared set of adaptive cycles, fitting and safety supplies, storage, maintenance capacity, and trained support so more adults and their caregivers can return to familiar routes. Equipment choices will follow participant trials and the supports that work in practice.
More Than Biking
Community mobility also includes preparing for a route, noticing signs and traffic, finding a comfortable pace, communicating a choice or need for a break, and returning to places where people are known. Biking is a starting point for a wider pathway of supported movement and meaningful participation across our community.