Kathryn Tolstoff lives with multiple sclerosis and has just had her first ocean swim in two years.

“I had some fear, but I knew I had support,” she said.

“So I got on my knees and I got wet up to my neck on waves and it was refreshing, cool, freeing — liberating,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dean Eckart crossed the warm sandy stretch of beach on his own for the first time in 16 years.

“It was a moment of satisfaction,” he said.

“To be able to come down [to the beach] by myself and come back — it’s exciting.”

The pair were among eager beachgoers who tried out new accessible beach matting and floating wheelchairs at Bargara’s Nielsen Park in Queensland’s Wide Bay region.

Angelique Elliot, who lives with a functional neurological disorder, was there too and welled up with tears as she dipped her toes in the ocean.

“It brings back a lot of happy memories,” she said.

“I’m a bit of a water baby — I used to be a bit of a swimmer. And it reminds me of my two eldest children who swam for Queensland.”

CQUniversity’s physiotherapists and occupational therapists led a four-year research project to turn the beach, 380 kilometres north of Brisbane, into a more inclusive space.

According to Accessible Beaches Australia, Nielsen Park is one of 10 beaches in Queensland with accessibility matting.

The Bargara Surf Life Saving Club is now equipped with specialist resources, such as floating wheelchairs, to give every member of the community the opportunity to engage in beach-based activities.

University lecturer Sasha Job said she was in talks with other regional cities, including Gladstone and Hervey Bay, to make the Queensland coast more accessible to people of all abilities.

Source
Audrey Courty
ABC News