One Vancouver beach will become a lot more accessible later this summer.
Vancouver’s Park Board is launching a pilot program at English Bay with the installation of a beach mat that will allow people in wheelchairs to more easily access the beach.
Currently, the park board has beach wheelchairs, which have inflatable tires that can roll on sand, available for use. However, people have to call ahead to make arrangements to use one, they are not self-propelled, they have to be pushed, and some wheelchair users are unable to transfer to a different chair, said Gabrielle Peters, a disability advocate. Additionally, she said, they are only for wheelchair users, and no help to people who use canes or walkers.
Peters said she started asking the park board about the beach mats last summer. The board already has the mat, but had to order the stakes and platforms to make them more stable, said board chair Michael Wiebe.
He said the board hopes the first mat will be installed at English Bay by August.
Hey #yvr folks I have some BIG #accessibility NEWS!!! I just got a call from someone at @ParkBoard & guess what's on order!!! #vanpoli pic.twitter.com/w7ayKSTEjs
— sine nomine♿️ (@mssinenomine) June 27, 2017
“We are working as fast as possible,” he said, adding that the board will look at installing additional mats at other beaches in the future.
Peters said that improving the accessibility of Vancouver’s beaches opens up an experience that was previously off limits for those with mobility challenges.
“It means we can go out there with our friends,” she said. “It means we can participate. It means we have access to that very special part of Vancouver… This is a wonderful thing. It’s literally opening up a space that hasn’t been accessible in any shape or form. Being at the beach is so much a part of being in Vancouver.”
Wiebe said the mat will be installed to the high tide line and will be removed in the fall once the wet weather sets in and the sand becomes looser.
