News Articles
The following article is forwarded to you by the DBTAC-Great Lakes ADA Center (www.adagreatlakes.org) for your information:
WLWT News.Com (Cincinnati, OH)
April 21, 2010
Park Would Allow Special Needs Children To Play, Too
Wilmington Parents Need Help Making Playground Reality
WILMINGTON, Ohio --
Having fun at the playground is a part of being a kid, but many parks are inaccessible to children with special needs.
A group of Wilmington parents is asking for help to make sure all children can enjoy the same facilities.
"We often go to Mason, Cincinnati or Columbus for doctor's appointments and there are some parks there that are more accessible, but we don't have anything in Clinton County," said mother Jessie Woodruff.
She and some other parents got together to design a playground that would allow children of all ability levels can play together.
"We found as a group that the children were not playing because of the non-accessibility in the local parks, so what we decided to do is to raise funds and start a project of trying to get a park built," said Holly Batton, co-founder of Little Hearts Big Smiles.
She said the hard part has been raising funds, but they've applied for several grants, including from the Pepsi Refresh Project.
Only the top two vote-getters nationwide will receive $250,000 from the soft drink bottler, and Batton is urging local families to go online and vote for their project.
"Our biggest concern here is that we want a smooth groundcover surface, where all kids can play, whether they are in a walker or a wheelchair or if they crawl," Batton said.
If the project is completed, Batton said, it will be worth the cost.
"No longer will a kid have to sit on the sidelines, and be told, 'I'm sorry you're going to have to wait, there is nowhere for you to play,' and that's our goal," she said. "We've got to change that."
Source: http://www.wlwt.com/news/23226356/detail.html?taf=cin