This Barcelona beach service is helping people with disabilities spend time in the sea

Jul 25, 2021

This article is published in collaboration with Reuters

disabled Nati Gines, 58, talks with her friend after swimming in the Mediterranean sea, on Barcelona's Nova Icaria Beach, Spain

"This way they make it very easy for us ... they are lovely, they are very attentive." - Nati Gines, 58, who is able to swim independently once she gets in the sea, with the help of a Barcelona service for disabled people. Image: REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Nacho Doce

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A service run by the Barcelona city hall has helped thousands of beachgoers with disabilities spend time in the sea.
This involves amphibious chairs, purpose designed dressing rooms and specially trained lifeguards.
The service makes the beach more inclusive and is mutually rewarding for both the team and people being helped.

Seven-year-old Max Segui has a huge smile on his face as his father carries him ashore at Barcelona's Nova Icaria beach after a splash in the sea.

Segui has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, making beach trips difficult, but today he is using a special service run by the Barcelona city hall which has helped thousands of disabled beachgoers.

It includes amphibious chairs, purpose-designed dressing rooms complete with a lifting crane, and nine specially trained lifeguards to help users access the water and enjoy the waves.

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"I can swim and play. And they also have things for people to swim, they gave me a life jacket, a floatie with a tube. People who can't walk always come here," said Segui.

Owing to the COVID-19 restrictions, swimmers have to book ahead to use the service, but they do not seem to mind.

"It helps us a lot because otherwise I wouldn't be able to go down to swim on my own," said Nati Gines, 58, who uses a full-leg prosthetic ashore and gets into the water in an amphibious chair, after which she is an independent swimmer.

"This way they make it very easy for us ... they are lovely, they are very attentive."

For the team, helping people to take a refreshing splash in the sea is rewarding.

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The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle inequity.

The Forum's work on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Social Justice is driven by the New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity.

The Platform produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit, and drives or supports action initiatives, such as Partnering for Racial Justice in Business, The Valuable 500 – Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap, Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work, Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators, the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality, the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice.

"It gives us such satisfaction to see the look of happiness when the people get in the sea. It makes it all worth while," said Gisela Ocampos, 36, team coordinator.

Luis Ferrer, 74, can walk with crutches, but needs help in the water.

"I want to feel that I can do things that I never thought I could do and I feel much better for this. I can only speak wonders of the people who help us," he said.

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