Me on my wedding day, December 28 1989, six months before my accident on July 4, 1990
The year 1990 was the beginning of everything for me. I was newly married, my career in sales was a growing success. I just bought a house, a new car, I had great friends, big dreams, and was happy. Then six months later, on July 4th my husband and I were in a car accident, and within a few seconds everything changed.
My neck was broken at the C5/6 Level and my spinal cord was damaged. I was paralyzed from the neck down. I couldn’t believe it, At 28, I felt like my life was over. I will gloss over the first year…it was too depressing, but when I finally started feeling up to doing things again, the first thing I wanted to do was go to the beach. I live in Pensacola, FL, and we have some of the most beautiful beaches, and water in the world, Before I was hurt, the beach was my favorite place to be, Mike and I would go every chance we could get. However after the accident the beach was out of my reach. As anyone in a wheelchair knows, wheelchairs and sand do not mix.
Mike and I tried a couple times to have him carry me out to a beach chair, but obviously that didn’t work. He almost broke his back, and I felt humiliated. Then one day he saw an ad for a PVC Beach Wheelchair, and being the engineer, he informed me, “I can build a better one than that’ I said “Well if you can build it, I can sell it!! That single conversation was how Deming Designs was born
Mike Pushing me in our very first
beach wheelchair
On a shoe string budget, and in our living room, Mike designed the first protype of our current Beach Wheelchairs. The first was a Drug Store lounge chair mounted on mountain bike wheels. From there, we moved on to a variety of versions of chairs made from PVC. Finally, Mike settled on the Stainless Steel Model we sell today.
A day at Coldwater River in the second version of the Debug Beach Wheelchair, with my dog Ruger sometime around 1996
Then we ran into the Big Catch 22.
• A beach wheelchair is a great idea…but
Resorts and Parks would ask, We never have people who have mobility impairments at our facility, why buy a beach wheelchair? While the flip side was, People with mobility disabilities won’t visit places where they, and their friends and family don’t feel welcome, so why vacation at the beach? Of course that was in the early nineties. President Bush Had only recently signed ADA (American with Disabilities Act) into law. First time people with disabilities had legal recourse for basic rights like employment, and public accommodation.
• Now, thirty years later, people no longer view reasonable accommodation including access to public beaches as a novelty. The disabled community expects to have access provided. When Mike and I first started our business there were only a handful of beach wheelchairs to choose from Today there is a wide variety, of beach wheelchairs, and matting for people to choose from
We’ve grown as well! You can find Our products at State and National Parks, Most Major Cruise Lines, Resorts and Water Parks throughout the United States. DeBug Mobility Products are available worldwide as well!! DeBugs are located in many countries, Great Britain, Australia, Scotland, Belgium, Mexico, and Ireland to name just a few.
A ribbon cutting at Kennebunkport, ME 2019
Mike and I have spent most of our adult lives working on providing the best products possible for beach access. Our team is devoted to this mission. We have met so many wonderful people through our customers and it has been such a pleasure to work with them.
Thank you for taking the time to read about us. If you have any questions, need information, or just want to talk, give us a call, we will be here.
Karen and Mike Deming