Everyone should be able to enjoy a day out at Dubai’s beautiful beaches. That’s why the emirate’s Municipality has created dedicated walkways for people with disabilities and the elderly.
At beaches in Al Mamzar Creek, Al Mamzar Corniche, Jumeirah 2 and 3 and Umm Suqeim 1 and 2, wheelchair friendly pathways across the sand have been created. Built to internationally-recognised standards, they allow wheelchair users (as well as parents with pushchairs and older people) to reach the water more easily.
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Engingeer Alia Abdul Rahim Al Harmoudi, Director of Environment Department at Dubai Municipality, says the blue and white paths are close to the parking lots for People of Determination.
“The provision of these pathways, in addition to the provision of fitness equipment dedicated to the use of the People of Determination at all the beaches of the emirate, reflects the efforts of the Municipality in providing the necessary services and facilities to transform Dubai into a city friendly for the People of Determination by 2020,” she adds.
It’s part of the initiative ‘My Community is a Place for All,’ launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council.
The first disability access ramp opened at Kite Beach in July 2017, as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced a national policy to replace the term “people with special needs” with “the determined ones.”