Barriers to the Beach Part 3: Rules of the Road

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Paths to universal access

22 August 2025 – CAPE COD, MA – When Sarah Nichols’ oldest son Ethan, 14, fell and broke his hip last year, Sarah – a mother of four – discovered a different side of life. What had been simple pleasures, like going to the beach, became logistically complicated and too painful for Ethan to enjoy.

Although Nichols lives full time in Hubbardston, she has always spent the summer in North Eastham where her parents built a house in the 1980s. After Ethan’s accident and subsequent hip replacement, her Cape summer became a search for accessible beaches.

The blue accessibility mats – meant to offer a smooth surface over shifting sands for anyone preferring a stable pathway – had been great for pulling Sarah’s beach cart. Now, they also became essential for Ethan’s access with a wheelchair and a cane.

Ponds provided great accessibility, but at the ocean beaches the mats always ended mid-sand, leaving Ethan in a beach desert of sorts, unable to reach the water.

“At Coast Guard beach the handicapped parking spots are so far away from where the trail is, so they’re not really accessible if you’re having mobility issues,” Nichols explained.

Why does accessibility matter?

According to Cape Organization for Rights of the Disabled (CORD), everyone wins when accessibility is a priority, and that includes businesses, shops, restaurants and overall town revenue.

This adds up to a lot of people. One in four Americans over the age of 18 have a registered disability. On the Cape 20,000 people between the ages 18 and 64 live with a disability.

“There is no reason in this day and age why people can’t go out on the beaches,” said Cathy Taylor, Director of Services at CORD, referring to the accessibility tools and equipment that are available.

“Technology is better because there’s a market for it. They finally realize that people with disabilities have money and want to spend their money, they want to enjoy the same thing that everybody else does. And it took forever for our country to realize this.”

What rules govern accessibility?

Both federal and state laws govern disability rights and accessibility accommodations: The Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) passed in 1968, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law in 1990, and Section 521 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations by The Massachusetts Architectural Access Board. Anyone offering public services, such as beaches, must provide accessibility.

What makes for universal accessibility on beaches?

Richard Cohen, a disabilities rights attorney for almost five decades and the County Associate Commissioner for Disabilities on Martha’s Vineyard spearheads the Beach Within Reach project to make 30 of the island’s beaches accessible. For starters, he said, there must be a smooth and firm path of travel leading from the parking to the mean high tide line.

“If there is an incline of more than five percent it has to be ramped and it has to have handrails,” explained Cohen.

There needs to be parking as well. “You have to have at least one accessible spot for every 25 spaces. So if you have a hundred spaces, you need to have at least four,” he added.

In addition, any public facilities such as showers, toilets, picnic tables, playgrounds and food service buildings must be accessible or offer accessible counterparts.

Mother nature’s exceptions

The law does offer exceptions: steep dunes with more than an eight percent incline, ecologically sensitive areas such as bird sanctuaries, important historical, and cultural and religious sites. It also offers an undue hardship exemption if the cost to provide accommodations would be financially unreasonable, mostly relevant for small businesses and nonprofits.

But even then, if accessibility can be implemented even just partially to co-exist with the protected sites or find a way around the dunes, it has to be applied.

What the Town of Dennis did

The Town of Dennis has 17 saltwater beaches and two pond beaches. Dustin Pineau, Beach and Recreation Director, said the town understands the financial benefits found in prioritizing accessibility.

“We don’t just assume people come here, we want to make sure they come here,” Pineau said. “It’s our job to overcome the hurdles.”

As a best practice, the town offers beach wheelchairs which can be transported to any beach on demand. And demand is high: beach goers use those wheelchairs every day according to Pineau. Corporation beach even has a motorized wheelchair for traversing the dunes.

The ROI

Pineau believes this investment in access brings multiplied returns.

“We’re all striving for that dollar. Rather than make it a contest, what we did was create a beach improvement fund. A portion of every day-pass and sticker sales goes into that fund,” explained Pineau. “It’s easier to get a budget approved when there’s earmarked money.”

“It doesn’t impact the tax rates. Everybody reaps the benefits because the majority of the money goes back to the general fund of the town. It’s a no brainer, it’s a win-win,” he said.

In 2024 Dennis’ approved budget was almost $45.000.000. At $2.400 a piece, a floating beach wheelchair or a 50 foot accessibility mat would have made up 0.24 per cent of the total approved beach budget and 0.01 percent of the total approved town budget. One accessibility on each of the town’s 19 beaches would have been 0.10 per cent of the total approved town budget for FY24 and .,56 per cent of the total approved beach budget.

The $11.000 motorized wheelchair purchased in 2023 was 0.03 per cent of the total FY23 town budget, and 1.10 percent of the total FY23 beach budget.

Collaboration is key

Pineau works closely with Grethe Kaeselau, Chair of the Dennis Advisory Committee on Disability. She says that cross-department collaboration, clear communication and elected officials who are in tune to the needs of residents and visitors, have aided the town’s efforts toward beach accessibility.

“In the long run, the finance department has the final say for every town on how much money you are going to put into accessibility,” said Kaeselau. “And we happen to have a lot of great selectmen that are very understanding that life can change for any of us in a heartbeat.”

What are the challenges?

The challenges, said Kaeselau, are threefold:  Cape Cod’s topography, budget, and convincing people that accessibility is important.

“I would like to be able to have at least one place where somebody with a disability could get into the water by themselves,” she said.

Does she know of any such beach?

“On the Cape? I do not.”

Life can turn in a heartbeat

Next summer Ethan Nichols will be 15 years old. Once again, he will walk on Eastham’s beaches, recovered from surgeries but with remaining life-long restrictions.

Looking back on the “crazy shift” life took after Ethan’s fall, Sarah said it was heartbreaking.

“Just thinking, oh we can’t go to First Encounter, to Bee’s River. That’s where my husband and I got married, it’s a special place for our family. And to think, are we even going to be able to get there with all of us? That was hard.”

Making it universal

Richard Cohen, gives the general implementation of accessibility a C minus at best – and that’s 35 years after ADA became law.

“If [people with disabilities] had been viewed from time immemorial as human beings when buildings were constructed, whether it’s 20 years ago or 500 years ago, they would’ve been constructed initially accessible,” Cohen said.

Instead, Cohen believes, we have a society full of places perpetuating discrimination.

“Each year of a person’s life is very important. So each year you don’t have an accessible beach means people are continuing to be denied.”

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Part 4: In our next installment Where Waves Meet Reality we look at the particular challenges of ADA compliance in a always-changing and often punishing coastal environment.

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Series Summary:

In part one, Getting to the Beach Isn’t Always Easy, we look at the ADA and the overall challenges of accessibility on Cape Cod’s beaches. Click here to read the story and watch the video Barriers to the Beach, Part 1: Getting to the Beach Isn’t Always Easy

In part  two, Sandwich Boardwalk – a Success Story (Mostly) we look at the successful re-imagining of the iconic Sandwich  Boardwalk, originally built in 1875, into an ADA compliant pathway. Click here to read the story and watch the video Barriers to the Beach, Part 2: Sandwich Boardwalk – A Success Story (Mostly)

In part three, Rules of the Accessibility Road, we look at the laws and regulations guiding accessibility, speaking with legal experts, and find out how the Town of Dennis created a structure to fund on-going universal access costs. Click here to read the story and watch the video Barriers to the Beach, Part 3: Rules of the Accessibility Road.

In part four, Where Waves Meet Reality, we look at some of the specific challenges of universal access in a constantly changing coastline. Click here to read the story and watch the video Barriers to the Beach, Part 4: Where Waves Meet Reality.

In part five, Rolling Over Barriers, we learn about technology solutions for crossing the sand. Click here to read the story and watch the video Barriers to the Beach, Part 5: Rolling Over Barriers.

Visit Series home landing page, Barriers to the Beach