News

Aug 18, 2023

Sun, sand and accessibility: Area beach town adds floating wheelchairs

Southwestern Ontario is home to some of the province’s best beaches, but not all are accessible to people in wheelchairs. Goderich, a popular beach town on the shores of Lake Huron, has found a

Southwestern Ontario is home to some of the province’s best beaches, but not all are accessible to people in wheelchairs.

Goderich, a popular beach town on the shores of Lake Huron, has found a solution: a floating beach wheelchair for people with limited mobility.

It’s called the Mobi-chair, used with a Mobi-mat, which can be rolled out across the sand, and will be available to beachgoers through an online booking system beginning Aug. 21.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Don't have an account? Create Account

“We want to provide top-notch accessibility in the town of Goderich everywhere,” said Trevor Bazinet, the town’s deputy mayor and chair of the accessibility advisory committee.

“The thought is, it’d be nice if there were some chair or device, so to speak, where people can actually go into the water with their families. This chair does that,” he said.

Typical wheelchairs aren’t built to navigate sand – their wheels sink – and there are limited options to enter the water without someone carrying them in.

Even the Mobi-mats, found at most main beaches and several parks, can leave wheelchair users marooned in the sand if their wheels won’t turn.

The Mobi-chair can be used by children or adults, has a safety harness and three large flotation tires. It requires the assistance of a helper to push.

The chair was donated to Goderich by Julie Sawchuk, an accessibility strategist and founder of Sawchuk Accessible Solutions, a consulting firm for businesses, municipalities and individuals. Sawchuk said, she “helps people make their spaces more accessible.”

A North Huron resident and a wheelchair user, Sawhuck gifted the equipment because she wasn’t making the most of it and knew others would benefit.

“I know lots of people that want to be able to get to the beach, get on the beach and into the water, so I thought, ‘Why the heck not,'” she said.

The timing couldn’t have been better, said Michaela Johnston, the town’s coordinator of health and safety, accessibility and emergency preparedness. The donation came as she prepared a council report on the costs of operating the chair.

“I knew there was a high need in this area, especially being one of the main beaches on the west shore of Ontario,” Johnston said, noting just a few other Ontario beaches offered the service.

At the same time, council was fielding calls from residents asking about it, she said. “It all fell into place.”

Some Southwestern Ontario beaches offer equipment like the Mobi-chair.

The Lake Erie village of Port Stanley and Grand Bend along Lake Huron both have floating chairs available on request.

Jeff Preston, a disability rights advocate, said it’s about time Ontario beach towns get on board with making their sandy shores more accessible.

“Growing up in a beach town myself, I know how important it is to have access to it and how frustrating it could be to not participate on the beach in the same way as everybody else,” said Preston, who relies on a wheelchair to get around.

The first time he encountered a flotation wheelchair was on a European beach in the early 2000s.

“It was something I haven’t seen before, beyond someone buying it themselves, which can be expensive,” he said. “And there is just no funding for this sort of thing.”

Preston hopes other municipalities make accessible devices a priority.

“We need to start to look at (accessible devices) as infrastructure, the same way we look at putting in gazebos … and all the other ways we manage the beach to make it an enjoyable place for people.”

The Mobi-chair in Goderich can be booked daily through its online booking system or the tourism centre starting Tuesday. Once a waiver and rental agreement is signed, users can book a day between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Aug. 21 to Sept. 30.

They’ll receive a code to access the storage shed. Staff will clean the chair and conduct a safety check before, and after each use, Johnston said.

She expects to see lots of rentals, given the high level of interest from the public.

“We really want to provide as much support for an all-inclusive community and beachfront. Having this accessible chair is going to mean so much to so many members of our community.”

[email protected]

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

To contribute to the conversation, you need to be logged in. If you are not yet registered, create your account now - it's FREE.