Hello world,
I recently shared THIS VLOG on my YouTube channel about visiting Laguna Beach with my family.
I got so many questions from people asking me about the wheelchair they saw me on at the beach and when I posted photos on Instagram, many people also asked how I was able to get the wheelchair for the beach.
So, I decided, it was certainly time for a blog post.
Here in the United States, most beaches have beach wheelchairs available for disabled people upon request. It's usually first come, first serve and sometimes they only have 2 or 3 available.
The beach wheelchairs can either be electric (like the one I used at the Santa Monica beach some years ago) - pictured below...
The electric one had a hand control that really made maneuvering easy and you can go around all on your own, fully independent.
Or they can be manual, like the one they had available at Laguna Beach - pictured below.
As you can imagine, the manual one can be a pain in the butt because you need somebody with you at all times when you need to move around. I had my husband with me and he said the push is not too hard on the person pushing you because the tyres are made specifically for sand.
Granted, the manual beach wheelchair is better than having your personal wheelchair on the sand. The tyres on most personal wheelchairs don't do really well with sand and they will get sunken and difficult to maneuver.
Whatever the case it, electric or manual, I am just so glad that most major beaches have beach wheelchairs available upon request. Everyone deserves to live a full life and disability shouldn't be a limitation if your desire is to go to the beach.
Here are some quick to understand tips about beach wheelchairs.
- Call ahead of time. Most beaches have a call line that you can find easily on google. Call them to inquire if they have handicap beach wheelchairs before you head out.
- Ask them if it's manual or electric so that you can prepare to have somebody with you if they only have the manual ones available.
- It's always first come first serve, so the earlier you get to the beach, the better. They will never reserve a wheelchair for you, so don't bother fighting them about this. It's only fair.
- Some beaches only have a few beach wheelchairs available for disabled people, so they might give you a time frame for use. This is understandable because it won't be fair for one person to use the chair ALL day when others would like to use it too.
- They will help you keep your personal wheelchair in a safe place while you transfer from it to the beach wheelchair.
- Upon request, some workers/lifeguards will even help you with transfers if you need their help.
- Both times I've ever "rented" the beach wheelchairs, I got them for free. Not because I'm special but because renting them is actually "FREE". From my research, most american beaches do not charge for accessible parking or rentals for disabled people.
In case you're asked to pay, you can bring it up with them politely that this is something that should be standard as per ADA laws.
If you do HAVE to pay based on the particular beach/office policy, I say go ahead and pay because it would be worth it.
I hope these are helpful to somebody out there.
Please let me know in the comment section below if you have any questions for me.
Thanks for visiting,
Till Later, God Bless.
