Barriers to the BeachLower Cape2025-12-23T01:05:10+00:00

Barriers to the beach— what we found!

Cape Cod’s world-famous beaches support a coastal economy and draw millions of visitors from around the globe. As the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) turned 35 in July 2025, reporters from Cape Cod News.org and The Enterprise collaborated to explore just how accessible public beaches are, and aren’t — and what is being done to improve access for all.

PART 1: Getting to the Beach Isn’t Always Easy

PART 2: Sandwich Boardwalk – a Success Story (Mostly)

PART 3: Rules of the Accessibility Road

PART 4: Where the Waves Hit the Beach

PART 5: Rolling Over Barriers

Editorial … Barriers to the Beach: What we’re hearing about accessibility

John Paradise, Editor, The Enterprise

We’re just past the halfway point in our five-part series exploring how accessible the Cape’s public beaches are (or are not) to people with physical challenges.
Three articles down, two to go.

When we launched this collaborative reporting project with Cape Cod News.org in Orleans, we weren’t sure what we were expecting in terms of feedback from readers.

We certainly were not expecting to hear from so many people who either wanted to express their thanks for coverage of the issue of accessibility or to share their own stories of success or challenge.

It started almost immediately after the initial article was published …

Read full editorial in The Enterprise:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/opinion/what-were-hearing-about-accessibility—editorial/article_30fd49b3-7d8e-4ec0-b282-9e9e3773bb29.html

Editorial … Barriers to the Beach: a collaborative reporting process

Teresa Martin, Editor, CapeCodNews.org

Over the past several months, CapeCodNews.org, The Enterprise, and LowerCapeTV, worked together on a regional reporting project, “Barriers to the Beach”. Alone, no one organization could have created the multimedia reporting that explored how 35 years of ADA has impacted the accessibility of Cape Cod public beaches – but together we were able to explore a topic that crosses town boundaries and impacts so many.

Click HERE to read more about how it worked and what we learned.

Helpful Links

Send us an email at capecodnewsorg@gmail.com if you have a helpful link to add

1986 report, Toward Independence
ADA Timeline
CORD website
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Universal Access Program
Massachusetts State Parks Accessible Beaches Guide
Sandwich Historical Commission, History of Sandwich Boardwalk
Dukes County Feb 2024 report on Accessibility of Martha’s Vineyard Beaches
Guide to Martha’s Vineyard Beach Accessibility — Beach within Reach
SmileMass, non-profit supporting recreation, vacation, and education access website
SmileMass application for floating beach wheelchair grant
Mobi-mat website

Our Reporting Team

Investigating the challenges and celebrating the successes — together!

Reporters and editors from Cape Cod News.org and The Enterprise collaborated on this deep dive on the state of accessibility for Cape Cod’s beaches.

Let’s Talk

Let us know if there is another topic you’d like for our team to investigate!

E: capecodnewsorg@gmail.com