USA Paralympian Arielle Rausin has loved the beach in Florida since she was young child growing up there. But because she didn’t grow up with ADA accessible mats (imagine them like sturdy rubber runways), her family had to drag her across the sand to get to the water, according to a Tampa-area Fox13 news piece. New ADA accessible Mobi Mats installed by the city of Tampa make the trek from car to shore a breeze. Rausin said the mats make such a huge difference she’s committed to recording and posting the best accessible beaches she finds online—all 660 miles of them if she can. No surprise there.
OUR TAKE: The wheelchair accessible beach mats aren’t new. According to its website, Mobi Mats has been making them for parks and recreation departments for 20 years. So what’s changed? Greater awareness and planning for millions of tourists and locals. “It’s not just people in wheelchairs, it’s people who use walkers, it’s people with baby strollers, it’s for everybody,” said one visitor interviewed in the news piece. These portable mats are a good example of using Universal design that is movable.
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