Grumpy « Terrible Palsy

Grumpy

June 5, 2007 at 10:34 am | In Ranting | 13 Comments

I’ve been a bit grumpy lately.

There are a couple of things that make me grumpy.

Walter (the coffee guy) not working on Sundays.

Able-bodied people who use lifts.

Mess.

On the weekend we went to a family day put on by the local council. There were displays of heavy machinery. There was entertainment. And yet as I walked around I felt myself get more and more grumpy.

Let me put it into perspective. We live in a really beautiful part of the world. It is also a tourist capital of Australia.

The fun day was held in the park besides our broadwater. The park is kilometres long. It has fabulous views of the marinas, wavebreak island and the seaway.

It is not lacking for playgrounds. I walked past playground after playground.

And then I got to this.

Liberty Swing

The token equipment for children with different needs.

The only piece of equipment that a child in a wheelchair could have possibly played on in the whole darn park.

And you needed a key to get into it.

No biggy. I understand that the keys are easy to come into and that once you have one then you can use it for any of these swings around the country.

But to me it symbolised something else.

To me it said, stuff you. This is as much fun as a child in a wheelchair deserves.

Harsh.

Probably.

But I just don’t get it. I don’t get why there are so many playgrounds for the able-bodied and only one token swing for a child with a disability.

What? Children with disabilities don’t like to play in playgrounds?

Really. What planet do you live on?

Children are children. They love to play, explore, learn. No matter their physical ability.

Just in case you were wondering, this is what accessible playgrounds look like.

Freedom Playground Accessible playground Shane's inspiration Maeve's dreamland

I hear the able-bodied love them too.

13 Comments »

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Certainly makes you wonder doesn’t it. Something I hadn’t thought about either. I wonder how much the councils even think about this issue. Thought-provoking Jacqui!

Comment by Jodi and Thomas Devine — June 5, 2007 #

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I hear you! this is the first year that Crew has wanted to play on the playground. It sure would be nice to have something accessible.

Comment by Mel — June 5, 2007 #

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Hi Jacqui!

Here here!!! I couldn’t agree with you more on this issue. In the new Qld State Budget being handed down today, a lot of money has been allocated to building new playgrounds statewide. I wonder how many of them will be truly accessible. Hmmm.

Hey I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your email from weeks ago! We’re managing to keep across things (but certainly not on top of them!), just! Will write soon!

Love Liz

Comment by Liz(Poppy's Mum) — June 5, 2007 #

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Thanks for the playground pictures. Those are fantastic, and, per your blog, we have absolutely nothing like them nearby for our family. We end up in nature parks for walks and stuff or lifting our daughter for a quick slide. Would much rather have a playground like the ones pictured nearby!

Comment by kintropy — June 5, 2007 #

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Great playgrounds pity none of them here! Our kids need accessible playgrounds where they can explore and have fun rather than just sit and watch everybody else. People forget CP kids have great minds but not so great bodies.

Comment by Mal — June 5, 2007 #

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I came across my first accessible playground on holiday in Austria last year. Me in the swing in question: http://wheeliefree.livejournal.com/1059.html?mode=reply

On my return I thought I would investigate accessible playgrounds some more. Foolishly even thought of purchasing a swing for myself. I say foolishly, because the prices are much like those of other disability equipment…

I did find a very interesting article in German (could translate if you want to start campaigning for more accessibility?) about how playgrounds shouldn’t just be seen as “kids having fun” but as a vital part of any child’s psychological and physical development.

Comment by Sair — June 5, 2007 #

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I’ve never seen an accessible playground either. But then I was lucky enough to be able to manage the swings for regular people and sometimes even the slide too. Sair, I’ve seen that photo several times and never realised that swing was an accessible one I just thought it was a weird Austrian one… but then the only accessible ones I’ve seen before were the ones you can take chairs on.

And a small note about the able-bodied using lifts. That used to really get to me too. But I have a friend with CP who walks unaided, she finds stairs hard and most people tend to overlook her slightly different walking pattern. One day I was meeting her in town. We arranged to meet by the lift and I found her being harrassed by others for using the lift when she was “able-bodied” and didn’t need it. Surprisingly enough that shocked me and as far as I’m concerned, use the damn lift if you want I’m not going to play a part in hurting another potentially disabled person like they did my friend.

Comment by Emma — June 5, 2007 #

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Jacqui – Well said. Great pics – where are they? There is one at Ellie’s school that I have written about but not as good as the ones you have pictured here.

I want to try to get more built nearer to our home but that requires organizing a team of fund raisers, town council petitioners, organizers, and generally people who have lots and lots of time and no prior phone lists. Very frustrating that the day is only 24 hours long.

Great post.

Comment by Kathryn — June 7, 2007 #

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Thanks for all your comments.

Liz – thanks for the heads up re the state budget. What i would like to one day achieve with this site is to send pro forma emails to ministers regarding issues. unfortunately I’m not technilogically savy enough to do it.

Kathryn, I thought the pics were from the site Angela provided. Here is the link – http://www.boundlessplaygrounds.org/ . We don’t have anything even remotely accessible here either.

Emma, I’ve never heard of someone being harrassed for using the lift. Having said that, after watching the third lift go by the other day (and it holds about 20 people, all standing), patience was in short supply. We ended up taking the esclator which is not even remotely safe with a double decker stroller.

Comment by terriblepalsy — June 7, 2007 #

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[...] I’ve got to stop complaining about things that are already [...]

Pingback by Chaos « Terrible Palsy — June 19, 2007 #

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Does anyone know who the major supplier of this special equipment is?

Comment by Bob — January 21, 2008 #

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I stumbled across this site while searching for accessible playgrounds. I am from Chicago, IL USA and I am writing a Master’s thesis on accessible playgrounds for children of all abilities. I have gathered tons of information on accessible playgrounds and how people in communities can come together and fundraise/campaign to have one built in their area. Please email me if you would like me to forward you the information ~ all of the comments make it seem like you guys have the heart to start your own project!

jmmadrigal@gmail.com

Comment by Jessica — June 28, 2008 #

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Hello–

I edit a website called accessibleplayground.net. It has just launched and as a component of the site we are creating a directory of accessible playgrounds. I was wondering whether I could have permission to use your pictures on the site. I can link them back to your blog. I would need to know the names of each of the playgrounds.

Thank you so much.

Mara Kaplan

Comment by Mara Kaplan — October 20, 2009 #

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