An Accessible Luxury Picnic in the Park with Newfound Picnics

Public Spaces, Restaurants/Bars/Cafes, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A close up photo of a bright blue picnic table with two cushions on the bench. On top of the table is a white linen tablecloth, two bouquets of flowers, several plates of food and drinks, and fancy dinnerware.

Today my husband and I headed to Bowring Park to have a romantic picnic lunch date hosted by an awesome new local business called Newfound Picnics (which is owned by a very nice couple named Heather and Josh). A few months back, Heather reached out to me asking for some ideas for accessible picnic locations in the St. John’s area. She told me that making her business accessible was very important to her, as she also lives with a disability and wants to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the experience. Side note: I am thrilled to be able to …

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Manuels River Trail

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A view of Manuels River and the surrounding trees from a bridge above it.

Last fall I went on a very fun adventure to Manuels River to try out an all terrain wheelchair that can be booked out from the Manuels River Interpretation Centre and used on their trails. The chair is called the Grit Freedom Chair and has been available at Manuel’s for the last two years thanks to funding from the Community Healthy Living Fund and the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development (Government of NL). Since then it has mainly been used during educational programs as students in wheelchairs often visit with their class and are able to participate in the …

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Harbourside Park

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A photo taken at the edge of the wharf at Harbourside Park, looking out at the Narrows in the harbour.

Last week I sat with one of my best friends at Harbourside Park while sipping on a latte and taking in the view. I always love getting a drive thru coffee and then heading to Harbourside. There’s an accessible parking spot right in front of the entrance, some nice ramps all the way down to the water, and lots of benches to sit at if you don’t always have a seat under you like I do. There is some gravel on each level of the park which can be hard for some people to push their mobility aids through, but I …

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Paul Reynolds Community Centre Pool

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas / By
A photo of the pool area at Paul Reynolds Community Centre. In the foreground is the lazy river and children's splash pad, and in the background is the larger pool and water slides.

One of my favourite places in the city is the Paul Reynolds Community Centre. Before covid-19 I used to go to the pool there regularly for physio and I’m so impressed by how accessible every aspect of this building is! Every door has an automatic opener, there are counters at the front desk at wheelchair height, they have some gender neutral changing areas with large, fully wheelchair accessible washrooms (including accessible adult change tables) that also serve as showers and change rooms for swimmers with disabilities, and they also have a bunch of pool wheelchairs and lifts to get in …

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Cape Spear

Public Spaces, St. John's & Surrounding Areas, The Great Outdoors / By
A photo of me from behind, sitting in my wheelchair on a different observation deck near the end of the trail. There are rails in front of me and then cliffs and ocean beyond.

I recently headed out to Cape Spear with one of my best friends to check out their new accessible trail. We heard rumours that a portion of the trail was recently renovated to provide wheelchair accessibility, but I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Like most accessibility-related things, my expectations were low. But I was pleasantly surprised! We parked in one of the many accessible parking spaces and then wheeled past an accessible washroom (well, it says it’s accessible but I didn’t look inside and I did notice there was no automatic door) and then past an accessible visitor centre …

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