If you or someone you knew uses a wheelchair, you already know that folks who uses wheelchairs to get around are just as capable as anyone else.
Whether they need a wheelchair everyday, or just part of the time, individuals who get around on four wheels have racked up some pretty incredible achievements, from Stephen Hawking’s incredible leaps in theoretical physics, to this 9-year-old boy’s game-winning touchdown.
What’s even more impressive is how much they accomplish, even as they overcome hurdle after frustrating hurdle to get things done in a world that is generally not designed with their needs in mind.
The pure logistics of using a wheelchair are complicated; every staircase, every movie theater, and every leisure pursuit is made just a bit more tricky, because many of these activities are less-than-accessible for folks in wheelchairs.
That’s why it’s always a delight to come across an activity that’s not just intermittently accessible; it’s increasingly designed with the needs of the wheelchair-user in mind. These days, the activity that seems to fit the bill best may surprise you: hitting the beach!
Check out the gallery below to learn more about the growing trend of accessibility at the beach.
At first, the beach seems like an unlikely candidate for a bastion of accessibility.
Museums and zoos have long been at the forefront of creating wheelchair-ready experiences with plenty of paved walkways and ramps, but the average beach is not as well-suited for wheels.
Fortunately, creative people rarely let little obstacles like sand and water get in the way of ingenious solutions.
Hitting the beach is one of the most enjoyable summer activities around, and once summer arrives, we all yearn to dip our toes in the water and bask in the sun.
Unfortunately, for a very long time, these pastimes were impossible for chair-users to easily be a part of.
Sand, salt, and water aren’t known for mixing well with gears and wheels.
But necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention.
In 1990, George H.W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act, finally making the need for better accessibility widespread and official.
National parks were among the first venues to begin updating their facilities, including the many state-run beaches across the country, and their creative solutions quickly caught on.
In New York, many beaches took an incredibly first step by fitting their beaches with flat pathways across the sand.
The paths, often paved or laid with rubber outdoor flooring, are water- and sand-proof, designed to resist the tides and provide a safe, flat route for people who rely on wheels for transport.
These paths stretch from the boardwalk or back edge of the beach to the water’s edge, making it easy, for the first time every, for people in wheelchairs to reach the water under their own power.
Some beaches took the trend still further.
They wanted to make it possible for people in chairs to not only reach the edge of the water, but go all the way in.
With that in mind, some beaches installed special ramps into the water, not unlike the ramps that trailers user to release boats into the ocean.
Some of these ramps allow the user to wheel or be wheeled into the water using his or her own (presumably water-safe) chair, and then transfer out of the chair at the water’s edge.
There, they can ease into the water and float, using inflatables and life-vests to ease and improve mobility.
Depending on the abilities of the user, they may even be able to swim and move freely in the buoyant salt-water, without the ordinary.
Other ramps are designed less for swimming, and more for simply enjoying the feeling of sitting in the water.
The beach above, for example, has created a slide, where you can transfer out of your own wheelchair and into the simplified version attached to the slide.
You can then glide down the tracks, right into the water, and either sit and relax, or move further out and paddle around!
Even with all of these achievements, perhaps the most brilliant innovation of all is the specialized beach wheelchair.
Like a personalized dune buggy, these wheelchairs are built with awesome built-up wheels, perfect for exploring the unpaved terrain that’s off-limits in a traditional chair.
Best of all, more and more beaches around the country now offer these chairs for day-rental, so the whole beach is yours for the taking!
If you love the idea of beaches that are open to everyone, make sure to SHARE these awesome innovations with friends and family!
