People who need help, be it human or material, to bathing in the beaches It is growing. It is not only a question of functional diversity: the progressive aging of the population increases the need for services accompaniment to the bathroom.
In badalonaentities in defense of the rights of people with reduced mobility such as Badalona Deixem de Ser Invisibles (BDN-DSI) They have been fighting for years to improve urban accessibility in general, and that of the Beaches in particular. Thus, they denounce that the material resources they have available (the so-called ‘amphibious chair’ for bathing or the modules that serve as a changing room and sink, for example) are “insufficient“and the presence of staff to assist them in the bathroom “voluntary although it could be improved”.
One of these users is Lolaa veteran regular at the Badalona beach, almost “founder”, as she says: “Year after year we ask for improvements in the service, because the beach is not well adapted”, assumes the bather, who assures that “I won’t stop until the Badalona beach is worthy”.
Or also Carmena lover of the Badalona beach who goes there to bathe even though she lives in Barcelona: “Lack of structural resourcesadequate material, specific personnel attending, or safe parking spaces in the Pont del Petroli”enumerate.
For the president of BDN-DSI, Guillermo Hurtado“the infrastructures are very insufficient”even more so taking into account the multiplicity of profiles that require accompaniment for bathing: “There are many differences in the degree of mobility of people, in the wide range of disabilities. If we want the beach to be for everyone, the administrations have to ensure that people with lower accessibility can go smoothly.”
Beyond the difficulties that people with reduced mobility encounter as soon as they leave their home, or inside it -“Badalona has a thousand and one architectural barriers”, recalls the president of BDN-DSI-, the biggest problems for users with reduced mobility on the beach are summarized in three: lack of surface, material in poor condition and lack of personnel to accompany the bathroom.
The Councilor for the Environment of the Badalona City Council, Sonia Aegea (PP), remember that the reduced mobility service is based on a contract signed in 2021 (under the previous mandate of the current mayor, Xavier Garcia Albiol): “It is a service that does not work badly, although it does We have received a complaintadmits the mayor.
Two beaches offer the service
In this bathing season, since the beginning of the month of June, a total of 118 bathrooms, According to data provided by the Badalona Town Hall. 80 on the Pont del Petroli beach, and 38 on the d’en Botifarreta beach, both of which have an escort service to the bathroom, as can be read in the contract between the City Council and ProActivathe company responsible for the accompaniment service to the bathroom, budgeted with €41,726.62 for this year 2023.
As stated in the technical specifications, it will have to “guarantee an effective and continuous presence of the positions established both in the rescue and first aid service and in the accompaniment to the bathroom.” Those positions are for two lifeguards on each of the two mentioned beaches. “The reality that we live is not that, Usually there is no one when you reach the point of support to the bathroom; you have to call a phone number to notify and you often have to wait”, explains the president of BDN-DSI.
Indeed, there is a telephone service that serves both to find out in advance about the state of the water (“if bathing is not allowed, it is good for many users to know so they no longer go to the beach,” Hurtado describes) and to arrange previously the escort service, something that is not mandatory to finally have the assistance.
In addition, in the technical specifications of the contract it is stated that the winning company must have an amphibious chair for each bathroom assistance point. After two weeks with punctured wheels, this Friday the 25th the amphibious chair of the Pont del Petroli was once again operational: “The chair breaks every two by three, since the beginning of time, but the lifeguards always try to fix it with great will”, explains Lola, a bather who needs a wheelchair to get around.
From the entity they also ask that the number of amphibious chairs be increased: “At least there should be three in each bathroom aid post, and the necessary spare parts in case they break,” maintains Hurtado.
The modules, which serve as both a washbasin and a changing room with the consequent lack of effective space, are another target of user criticism: “We need the washbasin to be separated from the changing room because the fact that they share space makes it very difficult to use, so such as moving from one chair to another, or to the toilet”, sums up the president of BDN-DSI.
City Council response
From BDN-DSI they believe that the contract that governs the accompanying bathroom services should be independent to the one who manages the lifeguard service on the beaches (something that currently does not happen): “This way, specific training could be incorporated in the care of People with disabilities and it would also avoid a lack of personnel at the points”.
For councilor Egea, although does not rule out separation of both contracts in the future -the current contract ends in 2023, although it reserves the option for a one-year extension-, “it also makes sense that they are in the same contract, since ProActiva is the company who monitors the state of the sea, the weather, the conditions for bathing, so that they are the first to know if the escort service to the sea can be carried out or not”. Egea also ensures that when the contract expires (it cannot yet inform whether will renew until 2024), “it will be possible to work along the lines of including more priority for the accompaniment to the bathroom”.
The popular mayor assumes that the service “you can always improve”, and anticipates that the option of increasing the shade surface in the bathroom assistance points is being studied: “In fact, this year two pergolas have been installed in the assisted bathroom areas, which have worked very well because if the users have waiting for assistance, they are protected from the sun”.
Egea also highlights the eleven places along the entire Badalonian coast where the ropes are found, which, anchored to the sand, go to the sea thanks to some small buoyswhich “facilitate entry into the water for people with reduced mobility”.
Related news
The 2023 bathing season faces his last weeks (in Badalona, it will end on Sunday September, 17th) and accessibility activists such as Carme or Lola assure that they will continue to fight for their rights: “Functional diversity can be reached by many paths, and anyone is susceptible to have mobility problems“, recalls Carmen.
Read all the news of Badalona in THE NEWSPAPER Badalona