Students in South Korea make beaches accessible for disabled people
The secondary school students believe the beach is a public space, everyone should enjoy
Some secondary school students from South Korea’s vacation island Jeju, caught the eye of a corporation for an idea they came up with. They decided to help make the beach more accessible for disabled people by getting them a couple of floating wheelchairs and barrier-free mats on the beach.
In a video posted on Instagram by international broadcaster, BBC World Service, it was revealed that the students received a sponsorship from a corporation which helped them buy a couple of floating wheelchairs.
The beach wheelchairs are equipped with rubber wheels that help it move well on the sand. And because of the tubes, it helps them float on water as well.
The video shows a man named Song Yunho, who explains how this initiative by the secondary students made him shake with excitement.
“After my leg became injured one of my legs was amputated. It had been ten years since I was in the sea,” he said.
“I was so happy that my hands were shaking with excitement. I could even change the direction by waving my hands. It was really great,” he added with a wide grin across his face in the video.
One of students, Um Juhyun said, “The beach is a public space that everyone should be able to enjoy, not just certain people. When we were told there were only a few special wheelchairs in Jeju Island, I wondered why they were so rare.”
While the beach already had a couple of floating wheelchairs, the students were able to get a sponsorship that helped them get more, as they believed that everyone has a right to enjoy the beautiful beaches of Jeju.
The video has since garnered over 498,000 views and over one hundred comments, with people praising the students.
One comment read, “Keep up the great work! Precious to see how happy the gentleman was to be in the water after 10 years.”
Another read, “All places have to be accessible! I am very happy that Korea’s beaches are becoming accessible.”
While this idea is sure helping people out, another student, Choi Jiseul mentions how expensive they are.
“Each wheelchair costs almost 5 million won (Dh 14,000). The one we set up on the sandy beach… the barrier-free mat was 2.5 million won (Dh 7,000) for 10 metres,” she said.
Besides South Korea, the floating wheelchairs have been seen across the world, including Sharjah.
In a previous report on Gulf News from May 2024, it was reported that the al Hamriya Municipality had provided beachgoers at Al Hamriya Beach with the “floating chair” service for the elderly and people of determination. This made it the first destination in the emirate of Sharjah to provide this community service.