Little Manatee River State Park
Chelsea Bear’s Instagram account is a blast—boating on the Hillsborough River, eating her way around the world at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, feeding a green bean to a sloth at Busch Gardens and so on.
Nearly as ubiquitous in the photos as Chelsea’s magnetic smile is her mobility scooter, which she affectionately dubbed Scootz. (Search #ScootzOnTheMove. It’s a thing.)
Bear was born in 1992 with cerebral palsy.
“It impacts my mobility and how I walk,” said the social media influencer, content creator and disability advocate.
Bear grew up in Sunrise, just west of Fort Lauderdale. She learned to walk at age 3 with the help of a walker, but that barely slowed her down from playing “every sport you can imagine” with the other neighborhood kids.
When Bear left home to attend Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, she traded the walker for Scootz, to help her get around campus. These days, the 29-year-old walks short distances and uses Scootz for longer treks, such as exploring Florida’s state parks.
“Being out on the trail is so healing in itself,” said Bear, who now lives in Riverview, just outside of Tampa. She seeks out parks with easy-to-navigate trails—preferably paved—and bridges or boardwalks that aren’t too bumpy.
Bear points out that smooth, accessible pathways have far-reaching benefits, including for the elderly and parents pushing strollers.
“The more accessible anywhere is, all you’re doing is allowing every possible person that could visit where you are to have the opportunity to visit. And who wouldn’t want that?” Bear said. “Making things accessible doesn’t only help people with disabilities.”
Since Bear moved from South Florida to Tampa Bay, one of her favorite places to visit is Little Manatee River State Park in Wimauma. Among the park’s accessible features are gravel trails, wooden ramps leading to the restrooms and a new boat ramp with handrails and wheelchair access down to the dock. Bear enjoys kayaking in the park and exploring the trails on Scootz.
But even with her scooter, Bear acknowledges that many parks have areas that are difficult for her to reach.
“Naturally there’s just some trails that aren’t accessible,” Bear said. “In general, a lot of trails that aren’t accessible usually lead to some really cool places or views.”
Brian Ruddeforth wants to help as many people as possible access those cool places and views.
Ruddeforth is property manager for the Canoe Outpost, located 1 mile north of the Little Manatee River State Park entrance, where visitors can rent canoes, kayaks and cabins.
“We work with as many folks as we can to get them out on the river. You definitely want to show as many people as possible the beauty of the river and get them exposed to the river,” Ruddeforth said. He recommends calling ahead to ensure that staff are available to help guests get onto the water safely and comfortably.
“State parks and our national park system are so important to us—that shared resource that we all have access to, to get away from everything, remind ourselves of the beauty and importance of protecting the planet,” Ruddeforth said. “It’s a good place, and it’s great for your soul.”
For Bear, sharing her adventures in parks and other places has been great for her soul.
Bear started her blog in 2019 to communicate her cerebral palsy experience with friends who’d been too shy to ask her about it. She began posting more consistently on social media, using her platform to educate her more than 330k followers about disabilities. In addition to photos of Bear boogie boarding in Fort Lauderdale, ziplining in Oldsmar and lounging in a hammock in Key Biscayne, there are posts to mark Disability Pride Month in July, reveal her experience dating with a disability and educate the public about cerebral palsy while strolling the Tampa Riverwalk to the tune of rapper Unk’s song Walk It Out. Many of Bear’s posts include written descriptions for the visually impaired.
Bear said it’s good for the public to be exposed to people with disabilities, whether in real life or via a fun Instagram post.
In a Jan. 28, 2022, post titled How do you handle people making fun of the way you walk?, Bear wrote, EDUCATION and exposure to people with disabilities are key to creating a more accepting world.
She believes that not only is making state parks accessible to everyone the right thing to do, but it allows mainstream visitors to see and interact with more disabled people, which helps to normalize disabilities.
Said Bear, “It changes people’s perspectives when you’re around people that are different from you.”
When you go...
Little Manatee River State Park
215 Lightfoot Road in Wimauma
Call (813) 671-5005.
