Designing an Inclusive Playground
“Designing an inclusive playground means creating places where the openness, curiosity and impartiality of children – with or without impairments – makes clear the richness of cooperation and togetherness.”
The Inclusive Playground
In 1990, the United States adopted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This law is a milestone, protecting people with disabilities from discrimination. It includes, among other criteria, protected areas for workers and public transport, but also public squares, parks and playgrounds. It is a valuable law, protecting our human rights. The ADA changed something – in the minds, on the streets and in parks, but also in the design of individual play equipment. But what does it mean in detail when we say that a playground is accessible and what should you consider when you want to design an inclusive play area?
All new and renovated parks must have an accessible path leading to the playground. All play equipment of a certain size must have transfer stations installed. These stations enable a child to move, or transfer from his or her wheelchair on to the play structure, providing an easy climbing challenge, so the child is enabled to reach other play functions such as a slide. Another aspect of the law regulates the number of play activities that are up high and the number that are at ground level.
Designing an Inclusive Playground
Creating the ideal inclusive play space requires a wide range of play and usage options. When planning, you need to take into account all types of abilities, physical and mental, as well as developmental.
1) The space should enable different sensory experiences and provide motor challenges in different gradations. This way, your design will address as many different capabilities as possible.
2) Offer opportunities for users of all ages and sizes to pursue and build on their personal interests, skills and strengths.
3) Enable children to embrace and experience their commonalities and differences as autonomously as possible and in close proximity.
This way, a playground can be a meeting place, where people – children and their parents or caregivers – can learn from and with each other. Side by side, they compensate for or overcome social and structural barriers. The planning and design process should address as many abilities as possible in addition to children using wheelchairs. It’s not about “levelling down”, nor is it necessary to remove every sandbox so that a child with limited mobility doesn’t notice that he or she cannot run. The opportunities of one child often present barriers to another. For example, a pull-up bar, accessible for a child in a wheelchair, can represent a barrier for a child who is visually impaired. Since the bar cannot be sensed with the child’s white cane, there might be a change in the floor structure to mark this activity. Or a sensory pathway with different floor coverings – a fun experience for a child who is visually impaired – can create a barrier for those in wheelchairs, overcome by taking a different path. Designing a play space to be inclusive means considering unique needs. Barrier-free components can be part of an inclusive playground design, offering challenges and a more robust play experience.
Designing an inclusive playground means creating places where the openness, curiosity and impartiality of children – with or without disabilities – are abundant and full of cooperation and togetherness. Creating an environment that considers human dignity doesn’t mean finding the lowest possible denominator. Rather, it means enabling the potential of a society in its entirety to experience and benefit from being inclusive. This is a rewarding challenge.
Solutions for your Inclusive Playground
Playgrounds are places of joy, laughter, encounters and friendly togetherness. It’s where children can make discoveries and get exciting experiences promoting their physical, intellectual and social skills while shaping their childhood. Playgrounds are magical worlds of adventure where there should be no limits to imagination. Unfortunately, not all children have the chance to access playgrounds or play together with other children.
As a manufacturer of play equipment, we have set a goal for ourselves to develop as many varied solutions as possible for inclusive play spaces, thereby enabling all children – with and without impairments – to play together in diverse ways.
