onald Barbieri loves to swim with his 10-year-old daughter. In fact, swimming is the only physical activity that father and daughter can enjoy together.
That explains why the New Hyde Park, N.Y., resident with multiple sclerosis has become a staunch — and successful — activist for pool accessibility in Nassau County.
Supported by a well-placed political pal, Barbieri persuaded Nassau County on New York’s Long Island to spend more than $40,000 on new disabled access equipment for all seven of the county’s pools. And he managed to do it at a time when the county was mired in an ongoing fiscal crisis.
Barbieri has no plans to slow down. He wants to ensure that other disabled Americans are afforded the same opportunity and access throughout Long Island.
“It’s been a good project…real gratifying,” Barbieri says. “Now it’s important to advertise and let people know all this equipment is available.”
Passive accessibility
Barbieri began his crusade a couple of years ago by working with a variety of officials, including county legislator Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), who happened to be a boyhood friend. Barbieri’s motivation came when he realized that the county’s version of accessibility differed from his own version.
“The problem is, most of the pools in the county say they’re accessible,” says Barbieri, who serves on the government relations committee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Long Island Chapter. “But it’s access to the decks, not into the pool. Sure, you have ladders, but it’s hard for people with mobility problems to get up and down [ladders].”
Ron Beale, director of operations at the Nassau County Parks Department, acknowledges that most of his pools included steps recessed into the side of the pool or ladders mounted on the deck, both of which disabled patrons find difficult to use.
The result of Barbieri’s efforts, according to Beale, include seven accessibility ramps on wheels, seven PVC wheelchairs and two free-hanging ladders for ambulatory patrons. The equipment is distributed among Nassau County’s six outdoor, seasonal pools and its year-round aquatics center.
Beale is quick to note that the county’s pools did have some disabled-friendly elements before the recent additions. For example, some of the seasonal pools had plastic or fiberglass wheelchair stations. And the county’s aquatics jewel, the 82,000-square-foot, 1.6-million-gallon Swimming and Diving Center in Eisenhower Park, features a movable floor and a water-powered swim lift that guards wheel out on request. (See “Ensuring Goodwill after the Games” in the May/June 1998 issue).
Pool access via ramps and ladders gets a thumbs-up from many because of the equipment’s “passive nature,” which often translates into dignity for the disabled patron.
“A lot of times, you have somebody come in and say, ‘No way will you swing me into a pool,’” says Perry Sawrey, managing director of Rehab Systems, LLC, a Fargo, N.D.-based supplier of Nassau County’s new ramps, wheelchairs and ladders. “The ramps and ladders are more passive and practical.”
The three- or four-step ladders are forward-entry, forward-exit ladders that feature 11-inch-deep steps that gradually lead a swimmer into the pool.
“It’s almost like a staircase that hangs out into the water,” says Beale.
No downside for staff
For Beale, the effects on his staff were practically nonexistent. To install the ramps, “all we had to do was drill a couple anchors that go through the mounting plate (on the deck),” Beale says. “The top landing for the ramps or ladders lock right into the mounting plate. One or two lifeguards can do it with relative ease.”
At the outdoor pools, Beale keeps the ramps off to the side of the pool when they’re not in use because the ramps can be considered entrapment hazards if they’re always kept in the water.
“If a lifeguard’s not watching, kids can get snagged underneath them,” Beale says. “Anytime a patron needs [a ramp], one of the lifeguards just wheels it out and drops it in.”
At the indoor Swimming and Diving Center, Beale leaves the ramp in the water because the area underneath the ramp is visible from a lifeguard stand. The wheelchairs are stored in the first aid office or guard’s office, and brought out when requested.
Specialty training for the staff was another nonissue. “I just sat down with my lifeguard captains and lieutenants, mentioned what we were getting and told them what was expected,” Beale says. “It’s pretty idiot-proof.”
Overall, Beale says he has experienced no downside to having the accessibility equipment. “Just because you have this equipment, it’s not like you need anything extra,” he says. “It goes hand-in-hand with the usual operations.”
Beale says it’s difficult for him to quantify how much the new equipment was used last summer. “Use by the physically challenged is definitely on an as-needed basis,” he says. “If a handicapped patron is unhappy, I’d hear about it immediately. I get absolutely no complaints regarding any of the … equipment.”
Although demand has been light, Beale welcomes the notion of adding more equipment in the future. But he knows the likelihood of getting another grant anytime soon is slim.
“I would think right now in Nassau County, there’s no money available,” he says. “We’re in the midst of a really bad fiscal crunch, and also in the middle of some politics.
“But we’re looking at the practicality of any and all equipment, and [putting] new technologies into all of our facilities.”
