National Accessibility Week: Oakville charity making boating accessible for all

It’s National Accessibility Week — a time to celebrate and promote the valuable contributions and leadership of people with disabilities in Canada.

In Oakville, we look at the story of a non-profit that provides recreational boating to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to be out on the water.

A matter that’s quite personal to the charity’s founder, Stephen Cull.

“Boats aren’t made for someone in a wheelchair,” said Cull, the president of CharterAbility.

Cull broke his neck tobogganing when he was 28 years old. While that accident left him paralyzed from the chest down, it didn’t stop him.

He noticed there was a need to provide recreational boating for people with disabilities, so he founded CharterAbility, a registered non-profit charity.

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“I really didn’t see people with mobility challenges like myself participating at the boat clubs or out on the water — so when I was out on a boat in Muskoka, after I broke my neck, I literally exclaimed ‘I’m going to start a charter service for people with disabilities’,” said Cull.

23 years later the charity is going strong.

Cull says people with disabilities come from all over southern Ontario to take a ride.

The boat docks at Sixteen Mile Creek in Oakville and takes them on an hour-long scenic boat ride.

It’s mainly led by volunteers with a few staff members, and mostly summer students.

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“The people that come down here, it’s people in wheel chairs,” said summer student Ella Haaksma. “We have people with disabilities who think they can’t get the opportunity to go out on boat rides. So we have our platforms, everything like that, that we’re able to just put on the boats for these people and yeah, it’s awesome.”

“It’s just — it’s really great, even the people that come down have the biggest smile on their faces, and stuff like that,” said Haaksma.

CharterAbility says they are for everyone, including those who have never been on a boat before.

They welcomed a children’s choir from a church in Uganda in east Africa Friday, and Cull says that’s what it’s all about: getting people out in the water, who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.

The charity says there is always room on the boat for more guests, with or without disabilities.

More information can be found on the charity’s official website here.

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