Out of beach | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

A day at the beach is something many of us tend to take for granted. For people with 
physical disabilities it can be very difficult. Valerie Schuler finds out more.

Stephanie Hartley sits in her wheelchair at the edge of the grass verge and gazes down at the beach.

"If I wasn't shy I suppose I could crawl down," she says. "But I really don't want to humiliate myself and, even if I made it down,  there's  no way I could get back up."

For Miss Hartley and other people in wheelchairs many Auckland beaches are unreachable; little or no mobility parking, no ramps to the sand and no changing rooms are among the hurdles.

"It really frustrates and saddens me," says the 21-year-old youth worker. "Just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I don't want to go to the beach."

As The Aucklander reported last year, Miss Hartley is a keen swimmer who's training to swim Cook Strait. She needs regular training in the ocean. We caught up at Okahu Bay where she hoped to soak up some sun and maybe take a dip.  But she doesn't get far.

Her first hurdle is finding a mobility car park. There isn't one at this beach. She parks on the opposite side of busy Tamaki Drive and crosses the road, only to find she cannot get onto the footpath because the kerb is too high. The toilets have wheelchair access, but the changing rooms don't. Getting down the steep slope to the sand without a ramp is impossible.

Okahu Bay is not an isolated case. Pt Chevalier and Herne Bay have stairs but no ramp access. Kohimarama has boat ramps but no mobility parking.

Some West Coast beaches are difficult to reach. To the south, Eastern Beach has a boat ramp but its surface is rough and bumpy and getting onto the sand is tricky. Most North Shore beaches have mobility parking. Many also have boat ramps, but these are sometimes chained off.

Google "disabled beach access in Auckland", and nothing comes up.

All four Auckland councils - Manukau, North Shore, Waitakere and Auckland City - say it's an issue that has not come up before.

North Shore, Manukau and Waitakere City councils say sand and rugged coastlines make some beaches inaccessible.

Miss Hartley concedes that standard wheelchairs are not ideal on the sand. But there are specially adapted all-terrain chairs. There is also a special type of matting that allows mobility on sand. In some countries, ramps go all the way to the water.

"The council could at least make some beaches wheelchair-friendly," says Miss Hartleys. 

"Mobility parking and a concrete ramp to the sand would be a good start.  If there was a way for us to find out which beaches have wheelchair access that would really help."