Years ago when I ran a nonprofit for folks with disabilities as part of a university graduate program, a woman’s club offered to build us an accessible playground on our campus. “Could you help make the community playgrounds accessible so our guys can be part of the community instead of segregated to our “special” playground? I asked. Not what they had in mind so they built their special playground on the grounds of the senior center that nobody used. And it was removed after a few years. Good intentions, but…
Oh, Tom. What a wonderful—sad, but wonderful—story. Your hope to bump up the accessibility of _playgrounds_ as opposed to building _one_ special playground is an excellent message.
And a corollary: As we pursue making play spaces (and other public places) accessible, we should remember that doing so not about _one_ disability. That is, as great as it is to make parks wheelchair accessible, doing that is not a full answer to the question.
We actually have an inclusive park in our small town in southwest Ohio. There are two sides to it with accessible restrooms and a picnic shelter between them. On the left side is the "toddler" version with accessible toddler friendly equipment that is close to the ground, soft, bouncy, brightly colored. On the right side is the "kids" playground with a piece that includes a climbing wall, ramps, slides, windows so you can play fort and look outside, and room to move around on foot, on crutches, or in wheelchair all above ground. There are also swings, one of which has a foldable ramp so a wheelchair can roll right onto it, be secured, the person in the wheelchair can enjoy time swinging. It also has the oversized safety swings so an older child can be buckled into the swing to enjoy the time as well. Both sides have some kind of bouncy soft material underfoot so if someone falls, they are unlikely to be seriously injured or even scraped up. When I have to do town tours for candidates, I always take them out to this park to show them because I'm just so dang proud of it, even if I didn't live here when it was built.
It really is - we have a huge main city park and this is right across the street from it and right on the walking/bike trail. They are expanding the big park with new pickleball courts, a new skate park, a new "castle" play area, an expanded walking/bike trail that goes by the Academic Farm (part of our campus) and all kinds of neat things. We have lots of little parks around town too but this is the main place for all the kids rec sports, etc.
At the Grand Canyon of the East (AKA Letchworth State Park, here in western NY), the Autism Nature Trail (ANT) was thoughtfully designed and sponsored through a public-private partnership. It took many years for the original idea folks (affectionately called the Aunts of ANT) to gather support. But they did. And it happened. Check it out at https://autismnaturetrail.com/
Years ago when I ran a nonprofit for folks with disabilities as part of a university graduate program, a woman’s club offered to build us an accessible playground on our campus. “Could you help make the community playgrounds accessible so our guys can be part of the community instead of segregated to our “special” playground? I asked. Not what they had in mind so they built their special playground on the grounds of the senior center that nobody used. And it was removed after a few years. Good intentions, but…
Oh, Tom. What a wonderful—sad, but wonderful—story. Your hope to bump up the accessibility of _playgrounds_ as opposed to building _one_ special playground is an excellent message.
And a corollary: As we pursue making play spaces (and other public places) accessible, we should remember that doing so not about _one_ disability. That is, as great as it is to make parks wheelchair accessible, doing that is not a full answer to the question.
Thanks again for posting this comment!
We actually have an inclusive park in our small town in southwest Ohio. There are two sides to it with accessible restrooms and a picnic shelter between them. On the left side is the "toddler" version with accessible toddler friendly equipment that is close to the ground, soft, bouncy, brightly colored. On the right side is the "kids" playground with a piece that includes a climbing wall, ramps, slides, windows so you can play fort and look outside, and room to move around on foot, on crutches, or in wheelchair all above ground. There are also swings, one of which has a foldable ramp so a wheelchair can roll right onto it, be secured, the person in the wheelchair can enjoy time swinging. It also has the oversized safety swings so an older child can be buckled into the swing to enjoy the time as well. Both sides have some kind of bouncy soft material underfoot so if someone falls, they are unlikely to be seriously injured or even scraped up. When I have to do town tours for candidates, I always take them out to this park to show them because I'm just so dang proud of it, even if I didn't live here when it was built.
Jane! Thanks for this report! It sounds like a delightful place to take kids and get some time watching them be kids.
It really is - we have a huge main city park and this is right across the street from it and right on the walking/bike trail. They are expanding the big park with new pickleball courts, a new skate park, a new "castle" play area, an expanded walking/bike trail that goes by the Academic Farm (part of our campus) and all kinds of neat things. We have lots of little parks around town too but this is the main place for all the kids rec sports, etc.
At the Grand Canyon of the East (AKA Letchworth State Park, here in western NY), the Autism Nature Trail (ANT) was thoughtfully designed and sponsored through a public-private partnership. It took many years for the original idea folks (affectionately called the Aunts of ANT) to gather support. But they did. And it happened. Check it out at https://autismnaturetrail.com/
Excellent! Thank you!