Williamstown is this month hosting the Para World Sailing Championships, but an audit has found nearly half the suburb’s shops are not accessible by people who use wheelchairs.
The Royal Yacht Club of Victoria (RYCV) is hosting the event – only the second time it has been held in the southern hemisphere –which has competitors from 31 countries and is expected to inject more than $1 million into Williamstown’s economy.
Kate Skene, who is on Hobsons Bay council’s disability advisory committee, has conducted a “disability audit” of shops in Williamstown’s main strips. It found 46 per cent of business entrances were inaccessible to someone using a wheelchair.
Ms Skene, assisted by fellow parishioners of Williamstown Church of Christ, audited Nelson Place, Ferguson Street and Douglas Parade.
She said 30 per cent, or 11,124 people, in Hobsons Bay had a disability – 4614 of them with a profound core activity limitation.
“Based on the population of Hobsons Bay that has a disability, if we were going to spend $20 a year in your shop and we can’t, that’s over $300,000 per year you’re doing yourself out of,” Ms Skene said.
“The cost of a ramp could be the amount of money I spend on lunch in your shop.
“We’re not asking for world peace here, we’re simply asking to go into a shop like everybody else.”
MICHAEL MCLEAN, JASON ANDERSON AND KATE SKENE.
Hobsons Bay mayor Colleen Gates said the council was looking at how it could improve accessibility ahead of the influx of visitors.
It conducted an audit into carparking, kerb ramps, stairs, lighting, pedestrian crossings, tactile ground surface indicators, accessible toilets, street furniture and signage.
Cr Gates said the championships were expected to bring a $7 million boost to the Victorian economy. “Our most conservative estimates suggest over $1 million of that will flow into the local economy, from accommodation to storage, transport to hospitality,” Cr Gates said.
RYCV vice-commodore and organising committee chairman Michael McLean said traders who didn’t provide disability access were missing out on business.
“What tends to happen, as a person in a wheelchair myself, you just don’t go there,” he said. “You go somewhere where you can get in without too much trouble.
“There could be upwards of 300 people directly connected with the event – that doesn’t include locals or anyone who comes down to have a look. We’ve got about 84 boats coming from 31 countries.”
The championships, which are the second and final country qualifier for the Rio Paralympics, are from November 24 to December 3.
