AccesSportAmerica is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing high-challenge sports and fitness to both children and adults with disabilities. Its goal is to provide experiences that help these individuals see that they are much more than their disability. Rev. Ross Lilly founded AccesSportAmerica in 1995. It gained regional attention when The Boston Globe reported on Ross and his son Joshua, who was born in 1985 with cerebral palsy. Together they competed in a 10-mile windsurfing course off the coast of Cape Cod.

AccesSportAmerica has a staff of 25 and many volunteers and instructors, who challenge participants to reach their potential in personal, physical, cognitive, and emotional development. They want their athletes to “think of conditioning as a lifetime of physical fitness.”They offer many programs including windsurfing, adaptive soccer, and tennis.

AccesSportAmerica’s greatest needs are finding more instructors and increasing the level of understanding about disabilities among the general public. Rev. Lilly believes it is never ‘them’ and ‘us’ but that we are all one community working together for good health and fitness.