\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe saying goes, “it’s as easy as riding a bike,” and one Orlando summer camp is making that phrase a reality for dozens of people with Down syndrome. Friday was the last day of the fifteenth annual “iCan Bike!” camp at the Orange County Convention Center. The event was created by the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida. Forty participants, ranging in age from eight to 33, took part in this event. There are five sessions, each about 75 minutes long. The foundation says throughout the week, the progress they make is cool to see. Co-founder Camille Gardiner says this event goes beyond transportation and exercise; it gives confidence to get involved in the community. “We’ve had drivers that have left here that have gone on to do triathlons, the Florida IRONMAN, get their driver’s license (\u2026) so the impact of bike camp far exceeds just one week,” Gardiner said. “iCan Bike!” also welcomed over a hundred volunteers, including 75 high schoolers in Central Florida. They worked with people who have varying abilities, teaching them how to ride bikes. Each rider was paired with the same volunteer every day, getting to work as a team and learn this new skill. “They’ve become part of the progression and part of the team, and so they’ve been able to take that rider from being scared to being successful,” Gradiner said. The Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida says 90% of people with Down syndrome and 80% of people with autism never learn to ride a bike. Gardiner adds that this event bridges the gap and allows for an activity as simple as riding a bike to be inclusive to everyone. “I think most of us don’t remember what it’s like to learn how to ride your bike, it’s something that just happens. I think seeing the bond and how our volunteers interact with our riders is really special,” Gardiner said.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The saying goes, “it’s as easy as riding a bike,” and one Orlando summer camp is making that phrase a reality for dozens of people with Down syndrome. <\/p>\n
Friday was the last day of the fifteenth annual “iCan Bike!” camp at the Orange County Convention Center. The event was created by the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida. <\/p>\n
Forty participants, ranging in age from eight to 33, took part in this event. There are five sessions, each about 75 minutes long. The foundation says throughout the week, the progress they make is cool to see. <\/p>\n
Co-founder Camille Gardiner says this event goes beyond transportation and exercise; it gives confidence to get involved in the community. <\/p>\n
“We’ve had drivers that have left here that have gone on to do triathlons, the Florida IRONMAN, get their driver’s license (\u2026) so the impact of bike camp far exceeds just one week,” Gardiner said. <\/p>\n
“iCan Bike!” also welcomed over a hundred volunteers, including 75 high schoolers in Central Florida. They worked with people who have varying abilities, teaching them how to ride bikes. Each rider was paired with the same volunteer every day, getting to work as a team and learn this new skill. <\/p>\n
“They’ve become part of the progression and part of the team, and so they’ve been able to take that rider from being scared to being successful,” Gradiner said. <\/p>\n
The Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida says 90% of people with Down syndrome and 80% of people with autism never learn to ride a bike. Gardiner adds that this event bridges the gap and allows for an activity as simple as riding a bike to be inclusive to everyone. <\/p>\n
“I think most of us don’t remember what it’s like to learn how to ride your bike, it’s something that just happens. I think seeing the bond and how our volunteers interact with our riders is really special,” Gardiner said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The saying goes, “it’s as easy as riding a bike,” and one Orlando summer camp is making that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-336626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}