Malaga opens bathing area adapted for people with mobility problems

Malaga has opened a bathing area that is adapted for people with mobility problems located between Caleta and Malagueta beaches.

People with mobility problems now have facilities adapted for them to access the sea. The platform is located in the water and covered with a translucent canvas to protect bathers from the sun. This shaded area has benches to allow users to enjoy being seated in the water.
The depth is a maximum of 80 centimetres, reaching the bather’s abdomen, which will allow them to maintain stability and buoyancy, reducing the risk of being knocked off their seats by waves.
The area also includes three swimming lanes that are 15 metres long and marked off with buoys and a safety line. There are handrails to help with ease of access to the water so that those with mobility issues can hold on and move around with safety and stability. The area is signposted and enclosed by perimeter markers, and it will be open until the bathing season ends on September 30, according to Malaga Hoy.
The Councillor for Beaches, Teresa Porras, said that the City Council are studying the possibility of placing similar platforms in other parts along the coast: “We will do it if the conditions are met that make it advisable,” he said in reference to the waves and storms.
Alfredo de Pablos, president of the Development Association Accessible Malaga, said: “This area is very good for the elderly. It is true that its use is focused on people with reduced mobility or not too severe disability”.
De Pablos explained that “no two people” have the same type of disability or require the same type of assistance: “Depending on whether I need help or not, I can go to the points that are offered (as in the case of amphibious wheelchairs on the beach of La Misericordia).
“The important thing is that people with reduced mobility do not bathe with their backs to the sea, because that is very painful,” he stressed.

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