Fairhaven offers handicapped chair, mat so everyone can enjoy the beach
it is quarter past six the town of Fairhaven is working to get the word out about a relatively new feature to help people with physical disabilities enjoy a day at the beach yeah so I checked out how a special chair and hundreds of feet of mat are available for anyone to use there is nothing quite like a perfect summer beach day in New England that's why the town of Fairhaven is ensuring everyone has the opportunity to enjoy it it makes me feel good to be part of a town that's so open and accommodating topeople of all Developmental and Mobility differences Marcus Farrow is the chairman of the town's Commission on on disability one of our former members she had brought up the need for a beach wheelchair to better access you know the beach better enjoy the beach and so that's basically how we got the the ball rolling on it without much fuss he said the proposal for a beach wheelchairand 500 feet of beach mat was approved by the Department of Public Works together with the amount of feet of the beach matthat we got and the chair it was twenty five thousand dollars one time we have it and until we don't have it anymore Board of Public Works superintendent Vinnie Furtado said the capital expenditure was included in the 2023 fiscal year budget the chair and Matt were in place at the town beach on West Island last July but Furtado says no one really used it well I assume that because this isn't that common maybe people didn't know that we had it and we wanted to get the word out that we do have it for folks who want to come tothe beach that you know have some type of uh you know handicap the town posted on social media a couple weeks ago and lifeguard said they saw two people using it since when we were there beachgoers were curious and there was Buzz about how great of an idea it was the town hopeful word will spread of this convenience for residents and non-residents who may have a Fairhaven beach pass just let one of the gate attendants know and we provide access to them and actually we're going to be donated another one in the not toodistant future so even even less of a reason to have to call ahead so you do need a beach pass to access the town beach on West Island there are some limited season passes available to build on residents you can find a link to all the information on our website at wpri.com
