More than just mats: opening the beach to people with disability

A charity is making miracles with its partnership approach to accessible surf and sand.

For most of us, heading to the beach for the day doesn’t require much thought or planning, besides remembering to bring the sunscreen and a towel.

But for the more than four million Australians with disability, that same day out can pose a challenge. Will you get a carpark? Will you be able to get changed? And will you even be able to make it down to the water?

One charity is making it its mission to answer yes to all of those questions.

Accessible Beaches was founded by Shane Hryhorec, a wheelchair user and beach lover.

He quickly discovered that the wheels on his chair got bogged in the sand, and began looking for a way to make the beach accessible to people like him.

Accessible Beaches works with councils, life saving clubs and other organisations to make beach access inclusive for people with disability. This includes things like matting along the sand to allow access to the water for wheelchair users.

But Bern Walker, beach access project officer at Accessible Beaches, told Pro Bono News that an accessible beach is about more than matting.

“To be truly inclusive means you need to understand the barriers and challenges that people have in trying to access the beach,” she explained.

“We talk about it in terms of hardware and software. The hardware is the practical [things like] accessible car parks…. clear pathways, accessible change rooms or bathrooms or a changing places facility.”

As well, access points should be clear to enable safe transitions to different areas, and walkways should be wide and clear and without undulations. Beach wheelchairs and trained support staff should also be available for use.

Walker said the innovations championed by Accessible Beaches are for more than just wheelchair users; they also make the beach accessible for people like her daughter, who has sensory issues with sand.

“There’s so much more than beach matting and a beach wheelchair that makes a beach inclusive and accessible,” she said.

Accessible Beaches’s advocacy centres around the fact that an inclusive experience is just about going to the beach, whether someone wants to get in the water or not. It’s also about providing access to shade and fresh water, which can be critical for some people with disability who struggle to regulate their body temperature.

For those who are vision or hearing impaired, signage should be in multiple formats.

The software component of beach accessibility is equally as important, Walker said, and that’s where Accessible Beaches’ staff train and educate stakeholders as to what an inclusive experience is, what different disabilities are and how to interact with people with disability respectfully.

After advocating for accessibility upgrades, Accessible Beaches will support organisations in whatever way they need as they begin the journey to making the beach more accessible, whether that’s support with grant writing or letters to support budget requests.

See also: Cocky Guides rides the accessible tourism wave

Tackling unconscious bias with awareness

Accessible Beaches runs training programs for places like Surf Life Saving Australia and other stakeholders involved in providing accessible beaches, and give them the lens to view accessible through.

This challenges unconscious biases around disability.

“What we try and educate people [about] is that by not providing an inclusive beach and accessible beach, what you’re saying to this huge chunk of Australians who live with a disability or a mobility challenge is that you’re not welcome and you’re not valued like everybody else,” Walker said.

“And I think once you start talking to people from that perspective, it becomes a no-brainer. You can see the change in people’s faces… it just really does break down those barriers and brings the humanity back to it rather than feeling that you’re being forced or obliged to provide this service. It just brings it back to that human element that everybody has the right to access everything in life. And from our perspective, everyone has the right to be able to access the beach.”

Walker said the feedback from the disability community to Accessible Beaches’ work is incredible.

“You hear from people [who] haven’t been on the beach for 10 years, 20 years or never, and all of a sudden they’re on the beach and in a floating wheelchair and they say to you, ‘you’ve made a miracle. A miracle has happened.’

“And then that elation is coupled with sadness that they’ve had to wait so long for that to be included in something that is quintessentially Australian. A day at the beach is just so much a part of being an Australian.”

Accessibility in high demand

Accessible Beaches’ website features a directory of beaches around Australia with information about what accessible features the beach offers. Users are able to search the map for an inclusive beach near them.

New beaches are being added all the time, Walker said.

And she said Accessible Beaches “is only getting busier” as more and more people with disability seek access to the beach.

Accessible Beaches has a vision of seeing all patrolled beaches completely accessible to people with disability, and non-patrolled beaches to be made safe too.

The charity is working with councils and lifesaving clubs on external storage for beach wheelchairs so beachgoers can visit the beach when they want.

“They should be able to… [and] if you just had some beach matting down and perhaps fix a ramp between the car park and the beach, all of a sudden you’ve made that an accessible experience for someone that just wants to go down there with their family and have lunch or have a picnic or grab some fish and chips and eat their dinner down there — anything that other people would just take for granted,” Walker explained.

Accessible Beaches is also building up its training program, and aims to train all surf living saving clubs in Australia on access and inclusion awareness.

The charity also hopes to put accessibility on the national agenda.

“It’s pie in the sky, but you’ve got to have those goals and to do those sorts of things and influence from a higher level would be amazing,” Walker said.