SOME OF OUR DISABILITY EXPO VISITORS
By Kim Pilic

Forward Steps Mobility had some interesting and lovely visitors at our exhibitor booth during the Gold Coast Disability Expo, including Beach Walkers in Paradise. These fantastic wheeled-walkers are designed and built locally on the Gold Coast, allowing people to explore beach terrain. We were so excited to have these customised mobility aids come across our path.

In addition to the walkers, we also had a dog guide handler team visit us. This was a lovely reunion, as I (Kim) had provided Orientation and Mobility training some years ago as a prerequisite to this ladies dog guide pursuit. Another visitor included Jeanette, who was utilising a forearm walker to aid her mobility around balance and stability. Whilst we had many visitors to our booth throughout the expo, we couldn't resist taking a lovely photograph of a very cute and handsome little assistance dog by the name of Patrick, who belonged to Alyssa. Sharing some special moments with you all!

Forward Steps Mobility loves the opportunity to provide Orientation & Mobility (O&M) services to people who require the assistance of a white cane; we specialise in this area of independent mobility. However, we also relish the opportunity to provide O&M services to people who are blind or have low vision who utilise other adaptive mobility devices such as wheeled walkers. We understand that not everyone requires the use of a dog or cane to aid in their capacity for independent mobility. This may be due to other physical considerations around balance, reduced exercise tolerance, postural corrections and overall confidence as well as the safest option for mobilising.

Networking with the likes of Beach Walkers in Paradise opens up a whole new realm of independent community and recreational exploration for people.

Forward Steps Mobility looks forward to taking one of their adaptive mobility wheelie walkers for a road test on a local Gold Coast beach with a participant.