Tag Archives: inclusive play

Guest Blog: Connecting with communities

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Hear from Stephani Victor, Paralympic gold medalist and Together We Play™ essay contest judge, as she makes her way through the piles of amazing essay submissions.

I am deeply moved by all of the essays I have read and feel equally inspired by the expansive vision of so many applicants and their ability to identify and address their community’s needs. I feel a great sense of pride for our country and, as an athlete for Team USA, have had the privilege to travel all over the U.S. Judging this inclusive playground contest has felt like journey back to so many places I have visited. Now I have a chance to connect with those communities in a meaningful way as I read about their dreams to bring inclusive play for all to their community. I am really grateful to share in this magnificent project to make dreams a reality.

Accessible, but not inclusive

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Many communities, schools and recreation centers strive to make playgrounds accessible for all. However, just because a playground is deemed accessible doesn’t mean that it’s inclusive. Rotary Miracle Playground in Dothan, Ala., recently experienced this. While their new playground was accessible, parents of children with disabilities felt the playground was unsafe because typically developing children didn’t know how to interact with those who had different abilities.

Education is vital to influencing inclusive play, which is why Dothan Leisure Services reached out to Shane’s Inspiration, a California-based national organization whose goal is to foster compassion through inclusive play. Leisure Services held their first “My Play Club” event on Saturday, Aug. 20, in which they invited children of all abilities to come and play together. Children with disabilities were paired up with typically developing “buddies,” and they played together on the playground, got their faces painted, and created arts and crafts.

According to the Dothan Eagle, Marnie Norris, director of programs at Shane’s Inspiration, said social barriers between children often disappear after interacting with each other. They begin to understand the differences, and any preconceived ideas or fears often disappear. Learn more about Shane’s Inspiration programming, and visit us on Facebook to see more photos of Dothan’s first “My Play Club.”

Inclusive play across the lifespan

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Last week’s post, Teaching kids to be accepting, featured an article in which a mom regularly talks to her children about tolerance. Educating people–young and old–about differences they may experience with others sure seems like the best policy. Making people aware and helping them understand those differences often leads to acceptance.

Kanics Inclusive Design Services, L.L.C. is helping educate the public about inclusive play across the lifespan with its Play for Life Symposium. A group of leading experts on inclusion and inclusive play will gather in Minneapolis on Sept. 22-23 to examine the importance of play for all ages and abilities.

At the Play for Life Symposium, you’ll learn from and have the opportunity to meet and network with Hedda Sharapan, director of early childhood initiatives at The Fred Rogers Company; Muffy Davis, four-time Paralympic medalist, and her husband, Jeff Burley, certified therapeutic recreation specialist; and Bethe Almeras, education and outreach director for Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play; and more. Anyone interested in advancing inclusion and inclusive play for all ages should consider attending the Symposium including landscape architects, parks and recreation professionals, educators, therapists, service providers, students and parents.

Go here to register today. If you register before Sept. 1, you’ll receive the early-registration discount. For more information, contact us here.

Play for all–free from physical and social boundaries

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As we go through the internal judging process, I am so overwhelmed. The amount of time, energy and emotion that have gone into these essays is incredible! I can’t believe all of the communities that want to come together through play. Not just any play, but play for all–free from physical and social boundaries. Communities have put together organizations to not only bring inclusive play to their community, but also educate the population on the differences of individuals’ abilities and how to embrace them.

It is eye-opening to see the hundreds of varying definitions of the word “community” in the essays. For some, community is a large metropolis of hundreds of thousands of people. Other communities are made up of small towns that draw from several other small towns. And many remote and rural locations have yet another definition as community. One thing rings true among all of these communities, and that is their desire to bring inclusion and play to the lives of ALL in that “community.”

Everyone that submitted an essay wants to bring play to all children in their community. Some want to dedicate the playground to someone special, others want to build it in memory of someone. Many essays focus on providing inclusive playgrounds not only so all kids can play together, but also parents/guardians and grandparents can play with the kids in their lives. I have been reminded many times over of all the military moms and dads, who so courageously fight for our continued freedom, and then come home to their families with different abilities. Many now use mobility devices and can’t easily play side-by-side with their children on the playground.

Each of the essays submitted are so deserving of an inclusive playground. Our team of judges sure have a tough job ahead of them. Check back with us in the next few weeks to get their thoughts about reviewing the essays.

Supporting inclusive play

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As many of you are aware, all of us at Landscape Structures are focused on providing playgrounds where all children and families can play together. While we’ve always created play experiences that are accessible and age appropriate, in 2010, we began focusing on providing a higher level of inclusive play. That includes providing sensory-stimulating playground components.
 
To continue our efforts in supporting truly inclusive playgrounds, we’ve introduced three new products–the Color Splash Panel™, Rain Sound Wheel Panel™ and Roller Table™. These products will welcome children of all abilities while developing gross motor skills, encouraging imaginative play and giving them a “just right” amount of sensory stimulation.
 

L to R: Rain Wheel Sound Panel, Roller Table and Color Splash Panel

Judging has begun

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Once again, we want to thank everyone who submitted an essay. We are blown away by the essays, the letters of support, photos and videos that were received! It is clear that you all share our commitment of inclusive playgrounds and providing play for all abilities.

The last day we accepted essays, Aug. 1, was beyond busy! They were coming in every two minutes, and we received them up until the last minute. We received hundreds of essays–43 states and 4 provinces were represented!

The judging process has already begun. We are currently doing an internal review of all the essays, and then will pass them along to our judges, Cynthia Gentry, Stephani Victor and Scott Rains.

The contest is now closed

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Thank you for your interest in the Together We Play essay contest. The contest is now closed, and we are beginning the judging process. We are overwhelmed by your commitment to inclusive play, and are excited to read the essay submissions.

The final announcement of Grand Prize and Regional winners will be on or around Sept. 30, 2011. You can stay up-to-date on the judging process and more right here.

The countdown is on

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It’s Sunday evening, and I’m curious how many people are still working on their essays for the Together We Play contest. Since last Friday, we’ve received 15 essay submissions a day. That brings our total to more than 100!

So far, we’ve received essays representing 32 states and four Canadian provinces. Do you think we can achieve representation from all of them?

The contest closes tomorrow, Aug. 1, at 11:59:59 p.m. PST. Be sure to submit your essays via playlsi.com before midnight! If you need any further motivation to finish your essays, check out this video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/playlsi#p/a/u/2/ClLG7w0EYc0]