Girls’ vacation | Destination: accessibility

Eve Morissette can’t walk, Marie-Christine Ricignuolo can’t see anymore, and together, they form a foolproof duo on the show. Girls’ vacation. The concept? To discover the most beautiful adapted tourist sites in Quebec. We met them at the Saint-Zotique beach, accessible to people with reduced mobility.

And this chilly Thursday, a few employees are busy on the beach of Saint-Zotique, in Vaudreuil-Soulanges. The sand is clean, the pedal boats are out, the Wibit aquatic course floats in the fresh water of the St. Lawrence River: everything is ready for the grand opening of the season, which took place on June 15.

This is where we meet Ève Morissette and Marie-Christine Ricignuolo, who today will have a dual mission: to tell us about the television show that they co-host and – while we’re at it – to test the new facilities at Saint-Zotique beach.

Girls’ vacation has been broadcast since the beginning of June on the AMI-télé channel. For seven 30-minute episodes, Ève Morissette and Marie-Christine Ricinuolo explore tourist destinations adapted for people with disabilities, from Center-du-Québec to Montérégie via the Laurentians, the Capitale-Nationale, Estrie and Montreal.

L’idée originale vient d’Ève Morissette. Née à 24 semaines, Ève a manqué d’oxygène au cerveau après sa naissance. Elle n’a jamais pu marcher, souffre d’une légère paralysie de la langue et elle manque de dextérité fine. Ça ne l’a jamais empêchée de voyager. « Je viens d’un milieu où on faisait beaucoup d’activités avec mes parents et mon frère aîné [l’humoriste, acteur et scénariste Louis Morissette] ” she says. As a young adult, she remembers climbing the hill of Montmartre in Paris… on her knees. “As I get older, I tend to choose my spots better,” she admits with a laugh.

It is to highlight this tourist offer that Ève wanted to make this show. With Marie-Christine Ricinuolo, who joined the adventure, they did a thousand and one activities: cycling in Victoriaville, a visit to Montmorency Falls, horseback riding, an adapted theater performance, exploring the ‘a vineyard, one night at Gîte Vita Bella, in Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard, the only 100% adapted accommodation in Quebec…

The adapted tourism offer is not huge in Quebec, but Ève senses a growing desire from the industry in recent years. “There is often a financial burden that comes with accessibility, rightly or wrongly,” she emphasizes. “Is there room for better financial incentives?”

Accessibility is not a homogeneous concept. For Marie-Christine Ricignuolo, who lost her sight six years ago due to congenital glaucoma, it means good customer service, describing places and guiding her. “When I get to the hotel, I won’t find room 305 on my own,” she says. And for Ève Morissette, accessibility is a matter of architecture. “Don’t take any more steps, and my life will be great!” Another difference: Marie-Christine is comfortable in tight spaces, which allow her to set her bearings, while Ève feels more comfortable when there is space.

When things aren’t quite accessible, it’s people who make the difference. “We felt an incredible openness and a lot of kindness,” says Marie-Christine. That’s pay for the heart. » These were his first solo escapades, without his son, since his blindness. She always loved traveling, and she still does today. “I had the impression of seeing the landscapes that Eve was describing to me,” she said. And traveling isn’t just about seeing: it’s also about feeling. »

Visit to the beach

At Saint-Zotique beach, people with reduced mobility have had a rather interesting playground since this year thanks to a Corona Canada grant of some $27,000. The centerpiece: a long blue mat (Mobi-mat) that crosses the beach, all the way to the water, to allow people in wheelchairs to access it. A rigid mat has also been installed under a palapa umbrella.

Saint-Zotique beach

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The team also recently acquired a third beach chair and is preparing to acquire an adapted boat (paddle board or kayak). “It’s really access to the water that I want to develop,” says beach director Isabelle Dalcourt. Saint-Zotique beach, she says, already received a clientele with reduced mobility before, and the idea is simply to serve them well.

I still have things to develop on the site to be able to say that we are perfectly adapted, but I would like to continue in this direction.

Isabelle Dalcourt, director of the Saint-Zotique beach

Ève Morissette and Marie-Christine Ricignuolo, in any case, enjoyed it. “It warms the heart to see that there is this concern to include everyone,” concludes Ève.

Girls’ vacation is broadcast on Mondays at 8 p.m. on AMI-télé, until July 22.

Visit the AMI-télé website to watch episodes of Girls’ vacation