When Chantal Martin and her family go to the grocery store, it's often a struggle to keep track of her seven-year-old son.
Her son, Nicholas, has Rubinstein-Teby syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes physical and cognitive differences. In particular, he struggles with vision.
“He often walks into things in front of him that you assume you can see, but he doesn't,” Martin said. “He's very disoriented and curious and will just go away.”
Nicholas has outgrown the baby seat in traditional shopping carts, so he can't sit in them. The problem is, he often escapes.
“We passed the emergency exits and set off the alarm,” she said. “He has meltdowns in the aisles … sometimes we go straight to the car and don't get our groceries.”
Now, after advocating for local grocery stores to bring in special carts designed for people with disabilities, some stores are taking steps to help families like Martin's.
Caroline's cart
Earlier this month, Martin was the first to take one of these special carts, called Caroline's Cart, for a spin around a local Real Canadian Superstore. She even used one at the local Walmart. In an email to CBC News in November, one of the Save-on-Food locations confirmed it had ordered a cart.
Caroline's Cart was developed by Drew N. Long in Alabaster – a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.
Her daughter Caroline was born with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects brain development. She couldn't walk — and as she got older, she couldn't fit in a cart, making trips to the grocery store difficult for Long. Finding no shopping cart options through his research, he developed the concept for a special cart himself.
The idea came from a drawing on a napkin in about 2009, Long said, and will be available in stores within about four years.
The cart is similar to a traditional cart but removes the small child seats and replaces it with a larger seat that can hold up to 250 pounds and has a five-point safety harness.
Now, Long says she has sold thousands of carts; They are in every Walmart in the United States.
'Makes shopping possible'
Long said the cart meant her family had the freedom to go shopping on their own without having to secure a babysitter in advance.
“It allows families and kids that previously didn't have the ability to be out in the community,” she said. “It makes shopping possible for families like mine.”
In Kamloops, Nicholas' 11-year-old sister, Janaie, said having access to a cart means she and her mother don't follow him around the store.
“Sometimes he wants to get out, but for the most part, he can still stay in the cart, and if we give him something to play with he's fine,” she said.
“Usually, we have to keep him busy at home while mom or dad makes dinner. Same thing when they buy groceries. So it's nice that he's in the cart and we can just chat.”
Mother-daughter time is a “game changer,” Martin said.
Martin hopes it will encourage Loblaws and other big chains to bring carts to all of their stores across the country so that families in similar situations will be able to shop for groceries more easily.
In an emailed statement, Kamloops Real Canadian Superstore manager Mike Bahn said his store now has two carts, which many customers are using.
“True Canadian Superstore is a people-first business, and we take great pride in supporting our local community here in Kamloops in any way we can,” said Bann.
Long said she wants Walmart Canada to roll out carts across the country, as the company's U.S. counterpart has done.
In an email sent to CBC in November, Walmart Canada said Caroline's carts are available in select stores across the country that managers can request.
