Casey's Clubhouse - Grapevine Texas - Accessible-Designed Recreational Locations on Waymarking.com

From article at MDA.org

CHILD'S PLAY
Communities get into the swing so everybody can play!
by Carol Sowell

In 1994, Amy and Peter Barzach took their 3-year-old son, Daniel, to a playground in their town of West Hartford, Conn. While watching him frolic with other kids, run and climb on the equipment, they noticed a little girl sitting at the edge of the playground, as far as she could get in her wheelchair. Amy Barzach recalls the child's trembling chin and quiet tears.

As Daniel played, the Barzachs held their younger son, Jonathan, in their arms. In a few months, Jonathan would die of the effects of infantile spinal muscular atrophy at the age of 9 months. In their grief, a counselor suggested they create a memorial to Jonathan, perhaps donating some equipment to a park in his name. The memory of the little girl at the playground came back to Amy.

And so they built Jonathan's Dream.

Around the same time, Casey Tridico of Grapevine, Texas, was having a playground experience similar to that of the girl in Connecticut. "All Casey wanted to do was play with the other kids," says her mother, Debra. "Any playground we went to would have a step or some kind of barrier that would not allow her to go the rest of the way."


Casey, who served as MDA's Texas Goodwill Ambassador, passed away at age 7 in 1995. Levenson & Hill, the advertising agency where her father, Louis, works, offered to create a memorial to her in Dove Park and asked the parents to think of something they'd like. Debra thought about playgrounds.

And so Casey's Clubhouse was born.

Today, both mothers look on the playgrounds they birthed with joy and gratification. They've inspired other parents of children with disabilities to take on playground projects. Jonathan's Dream has been featured in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, national magazines and on network television, and Casey's Clubhouse has been widely covered in Dallas-Fort Worth news media.



Major features at Everybody's Playground are the S.S. Brennan and Fort Patrick. All play elements, including the ship's helm, are accessible by ramp and have plenty of room for wheelchairs.



One of the first spin-offs of Jonathan's Dream was Everybody's Playground in Fairhaven, Mass. When Paula Barry's son Patrick began having trouble walking on the pea gravel-covered school playground because of his Duchenne muscular dystrophy, his teacher devised ways for him to have "recess" in the classroom or on the sidelines. Barry appreciated the effort, but thought, "This doesn't seem right. He's in first grade and for the rest of his elementary school years we are going to have to do alternative recess? It shouldn't have to be that way."

Her friend Trina Bigham, whose son Brennan has cerebral palsy, had similar concerns. Together, they raised a few hundred dollars from bake sales and thought they might come up with enough money to buy a few accessible playground pieces. Then they saw an article about Jonathan's Dream and made the three-hour drive to check it out.

"We got there and Patrick was amazed," Barry recalls. "He said, 'I don't need you, Mom.' That's when you know you've done a successful job."

They set their sights a little higher, and ultimately raised $210,000. Everybody's Playground opened in August.

All three playground builders seem a little stunned by what they've accomplished, but they say that anyone with drive and energy can do it. Here are their answers to some of the questions you may have.

Won't all new playgrounds be accessible, now that we have the Americans With Disabilities Act?
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines dealing with newly constructed and altered play facilities primarily provide for smooth surface areas, ramps and transfer stations. This means a child can get to certain areas with a wheelchair, walker or crutches but then must be transferred to play on the swing or slide, Barzach said. When an adult has to get in the middle of the child's play, the child feels singled out. The guidelines also fail to address needs of children with sensory, learning or developmental disabilities, she says.

That degree of accessibility isn't good enough for Patrick Barry or other kids with neuromuscular disorders. Patrick's mother said that what he likes about Everybody's Playground is the freedom. "It's not so much that he plays with anything. He just likes the fact of being able to go wherever he wants to go."

What are the elements of an accessible playground?
Jean Schappet, design director for Boundless Playgrounds, which she founded with Amy Barzach, has been designing accessible playgrounds for 20 years. She says a playground should enhance each child's independence, creativity and inclusion.

"If a child chooses to play in a play environment and use their normal ambulatory device, whether that's walking sticks or wheelchair, those children should be given the opportunity to get to the same kind of play environment that typically abled people can reach," Schappet says.

"When a child with muscular dystrophy goes to a playground, though they may not be capable of independent mobility in the play space, they still want to play with their peers in a way that's cognitively stimulating. They may choose to forgo getting out of their wheelchair because they don't want other children to see that the best they can do is crawl.

"But they still want to do the things that their friends do, like go on a tree fort. The girls may want to be in a cozy little space with their friends and tell little secrets. Play is far more about imaginative interaction than it is exclusively the domain of physical body experience."



Special molded swings and games at chair level are among the features of Jonathan's Dream.




So, a successful accessible playground offers every child opportunities for sharing space, manipulating materials and using the imagination. That's ultimately more important than finding a way to transfer a child onto a swing or slide, Schappet and Barzach believe.

However, the kids do enjoy what Schappet calls the "sensory pleasures" of swings and slides. Some accessible playgrounds have sturdy, molded plastic swings that kids can be strapped into. Some even have swings that will accommodate children and their wheelchairs.

At the opening of Everybody's Playground, Barry recalls, "One woman had to pack her lunch because her daughter is 13 and had never been on a swing. And she spent the entire day on the swings and wasn't leaving."

Boundless Playgrounds emphasizes the importance of asking disabled children for their input in the playground design process. When Barzach did this, she found, "They didn't want any special breaks. They just wanted a chance to play side by side with their brothers and sisters and their friends."

Jonathan's Dream has a "boat swing," a large double swing that has space for several kids, including one in a wheelchair. It was designed by Matthew Cavedon, 9, a member of Boundless Playground's Junior Advisory Board.

Everybody's Playground features Fort Patrick and the S.S. Brennan, two-level areas that are fully accessible, with counter spaces and portholes, so kids can pretend they're cooking in the galley or defending their territory. Other playgrounds offer trains or tunnels that allow for the same accessible creative play.

Play stations have large-size tic-tac-toe boards, steering wheels, telephones and other hands-on activities easy for all kids to use.

Surface areas from the parking lot and throughout the play area should be the type that wheels or unsteady walkers can handle, as opposed to sand, gravel or steps.

At Casey's Clubhouse, rubberized decking lets the children get up close to two dolphins that spray water. "The kids in wheelchairs and the able-bodied kids can go right up to the dolphins and get soaking wet. That's where you find everyone in the summer," Tridico says.

Wheelchair-friendly surfacing also makes the play areas accessible to parents and grandparents who use wheelchairs, as well as to kids. Tridico recently saw two mothers in wheelchairs at Casey's Clubhouse. "And the moms were chasing their kids all over the park, all over the play structure."

Elevated sand tables, wheelchair-accessible picnic tables and children's theaters are other features in accessible playgrounds.

Accessibility Activity: Playgorund Time available: Always open Group providing the activity: City Of Grapevine Website for more information: [Web Link]

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