Kids Just Wanna Have Fun
Playground design trends mix excitement with accessibility and safety
By Kelli Anderson
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF LANDSCAPE STRUCTURES |
| This Los Angeles park offers an innovative, universally accessible playground. |
One out of 10 children in the United States has a disability. They are a broad population ranging from the most easily recognized with wheelchairs and mobility devices to those whose presence is largely undetectable—those with hearing loss, who are blind or struggle with sensory integration such as children with high-functioning autism. Despite their large numbers, families with children with disabilities often do not make their needs or their presence known in a community, which lead some to the false assumption that they do not exist.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF BOUNDLESS PLAYGROUNDS |
Frustrated at playground designs following the minimum ADA guideline requirements (which may have ramps or transfer points but offer little else), these families often choose not to go to the majority of playgrounds where their children are sidelined at best with nothing to do once they get there or worse, have to remove their mobility devices and crawl around in a dehumanizing, foreign fashion. Most simply choose not to go.
Ten years after the ADA, the concept of universal accessibility—bringing children with disabilities not just to the playground equipment but engaging them with their able-bodied peers on the equipment—has taken flight. Paradigm-changing playgrounds are now being designed with a greater understanding of what it takes to allow children with disabilities to fully participate and be in the center of play, such as the playground at the Siskin Children's Institute in Chattanooga, Tenn., designed by Boundless Playgrounds or Aiden's Place in Westwood, Calif., designed by Shane's Inspiration. It is not uncommon for families to come from as far as 100 miles away to take advantage of an opportunity for their children to experience the benefits of play, which are not only physical but also cerebral and social. Kids just wanna have fun together.
"The biggest practical issue is opportunity for children to get to the play space," explains Jean Schappet, creative director and co-founder of Boundless Playgrounds based in Bloomfield, Conn.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF HAGS USA |
"Playgrounds may have access components, but they can't get to it," agrees Ron Derk, director of sales and marketing for a playground manufacturer, pointing out a common problem. "Some have surfacing but no path to the play area. A child can't get to it or a parent who is disabled."
Basic considerations include curb cuts; accessible surfacing for wheelchairs such as poured-in-place rubber, rubber tiles or rubber nuggets; accessible pathways at transfer points and ramps; catwalks wide enough to accommodate mobility devices; and transfer points and ramps that don't require the child to "take off their legs" as one child put it, so that accessing with dignity is possible.
"In most places I have to crawl out of my wheelchair," says Jeffrey, 9, describing the experience. "I feel like an ant."
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