The aim of this presentation is to explore from a family perspective, how the promotion of wellness and challenging activities, affects people with disabilities.

Previous research has shown that family oriented services have a considerable impact on the resilience of persons with physical and mental disabilities. Moreover, there is ample evidence that family members can enhance or hinder the attempts of professionals to increase the coping and resilience of this population. In addition, recent research has emphasized the advantages of outdoor recreational-challenging activities on rehabilitation, well being and adjustment to disabilities.

In Israel operates a unique Association of its kind: "Challenge", which organizes and promotes outdoor challenging sport activities that encompass the entire population of disabilities, at all ages, from both sexes and from various religious and cultural-ethnic backgrounds, towards the end of personal and vocational rehabilitation and adjustment as equal members of the community. It is assumed that members of this Association belong to families who score high not only on family resilience characteristics, but also in their movement towards others (altruistic behavior). Data will be presented describing these families (N=100) in comparison to control groups of families with a disable member and families without diagnosed disabilities.

Following the data presentation a discussion will ensue on the paradox of autonomy and independence needed on the one hand and the dependence on others, particularly the supportive family or spouse.

It will be argued that results support Inbar (1996) concepts of flexible adaptation as a requisite for personal resilience. Results seems to support the model that achieving a challenge not only results in an increases in the sense of achievement, but also increases the personal attribution of self-efficacy and family-spouse complex dependence-independence interactions not always in predictable directions.