We took the kiddos to the "accessible" playground this evening. I was not impressed. First off, the big, wheelchair-accessible, ramped play structure is on some kind of AstroTurf surface, which was darned near impossible for Addy to roll across. I don't know, maybe it's because of all the rain we've had ('cause we've had a LOT of rain in the past couple of weeks), but it was just too squishy.
That was my first turn-off. Next was the play structure itself. Admittedly, some of this is unique to Addy. See, she doesn't realize she's disabled. She firmly believes she can do anything and everything that her peers do, so having a ramp that leads to slides and tunnels and things that she can't do in the chair is really not all that fun for us. (There was at least one activity station that a wheeled kiddo could use, but the one to which I paid attention really was kind of lame and just had a little spinner thing that didn't do anything.) Who names a playground "Everybody Can Play" and designs it so the differently-abled kids are left out?
Then there were the swings. There were a number of "special needs" swings in a couple of sizes (they're high-backed, slightly inclined, and have over-head restraints; kind of like a rollercoaster seat). They supposedly fit kids age 2-7. All of them were too big for tiny Addy. There were also regular swings. Addy can't really use them yet because her core strength isn't totally awesome right now. What there were not any of was regular baby swings (?!). Addy does great using them at the park by our house. Nora could use them. But not at the "accessible" playground. "Everybody can swing" as long as you're at least 40 inches tall.
Lastly--and this is really my biggest complaint about the place because it shows the complete lack of planning that went into it--the swings and almost all of the little ride-on bouncy critters face west. WEST! As in, INTO the afternoon sun. And they're all on the east side of the playground, so it's not like you could just turn them around to face east. Who does that?
The important part is that Addy had fun, and she did get to ride on the Clifford the Big Red bouncy critter, and she got to roll her wheels through a gigantic puddle. But next time she wants to go to the park, we're just going to go to the one next to our house. It at least has baby swings that don't face into the sun.
