By Yuka Madeline Iwashita
Imagine you are a rambunctious, energetic five-year-old at the playground. You race up the stairs of the play structure to slip down the staticky slide. You run to the swings and pump your legs to soar as high as possible. Then you scramble up to the monkey bars to swing from one bar to the next. Now imagine you cannot climb the stairs, move your
legs, or reach the monkey bars. What can you do at the playground?
This scenario is not imaginary for disabled children; it is their reality. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulates playgrounds, the requirements fail to make them inclusive for all kids. As an undergrad, I worked with a team on an accessible playground activity for a wheelchair-using kindergartener, enabling him to play with his friends despite an inaccessible school structure. This experience demonstrated that universal design principles must be used when creating playgrounds so that every child can play.
Play is one of the most essential aspects of a child’s development. Play involves sensory experiences, elevation off the ground, and physical movement, such as swinging, sliding, and spinning (Ripat & Becker, 2012). Children learn to socialize and understand their experiences through play with others. Play helps children discover their capabilities as they can push their bodies to move in new ways. When a child can make decisions for themselves on the playground without a parent or paraprofessional, they gain confidence, and their personalities begin to shine (Sonday & Gretschel, 2015). However, the lack of playground accessibility prevents disabled kids from enjoying these significant benefits of play.
The ADA considers playgrounds accessible if they meet minimum requirements, leading to exclusionary design. Since experiencing height is a vital part of play, one rule addresses elevated play components. These components are attached to the play structure and can be approached from above or below grade. However, only fifty percent of elevated play components need to be on an accessible route (U.S. Access Board, 2007). Those on routes with visible barriers, like railway ties, make children feel excluded. A playground user with a mobility device explained “that [these barriers] just say to [them] ‘sorry you can’t really come in unless you can step over this’ ” (Ripat & Becker, 2012). Even if an elevated play component is on an accessible route, disabled children may not be able to transfer themselves to it without assistance. A father discussed how he had to help his daughter so that she could use the playground:
So silly me, I pick her up and I put her on the ledge and I carry her up to the slide and let her slide down. So I do that all personally . . . so I carry the old 120 pounder up there and then we slide down together and somehow we get down that slide together (Ripat & Becker, 2012).
As elevated play components are often unscalable for disabled children, the ADA specifies how many ground-level play components on an accessible route must be provided based on the number of elevated play components. Elevated play components outnumber the ground-level components, as shown in Table 1 (U.S. Access Board, 2007). Ground-level play components do not guarantee accessibility either, as they can include swings, spinners, and spring riders that disabled children may struggle to use by themselves.
Table 1. The minimum number of ground-level play components on an accessible route based on the number of elevated play components on a playground (U.S. Access Board, 2007).
Universal design principles, explained in Figure 1, can be adopted to create playgrounds that are safe and usable by as many kids as possible since they account for the diversity of bodies and abilities.
Figure 1. The principles of universal design (Interaction Design Foundation, 2015).
A great example of universal design is the Inclusive Whirl from Miracle Recreation, pictured in Figure 2. The Inclusive Whirl eases the transfer between the ground and the spinner’s gray surface, allowing kids who use a mobility device to access it independently (Principle 7 – Size and Space for Approach and Use). The open half of the spinner with no yellow railing provides enough space for both non-disabled and disabled kids to enter at the same time (Principle 1 – Equitable Use). Its use of universal design principles gives every child the joy of spinning. 
Figure 2. The Inclusive Whirl from Miracle Recreation.
The We-Go-Swing from Landscape Structures is another example of universal design, as seen in Figure 3. The ramp empowers mobility device users to board the swing with little or no assistance (Principle 7). The nook with no seat on one side of the swing provides room for a wheelchair user or a child who wants to stand, while the seat on the other side provides the option to sit (Principle 2 – Flexibility in Use). Disabled and non-disabled children can swing together because these design decisions consider the range of potential users.
Figure 3. Landscape Structures’ We-Go-Swing
One last example is Build Jake’s Place Playground, depicted in Figure 4. It shows how universal design can be used to reimagine the entire playground rather than individual components. The playground employs ramps instead of stairs to connect different levels of the play structure (Principle 7). Ramps enable children to be by their friend’s side as they move up and down the play structure, regardless of physical ability. Playgrounds can nurture a sense of belonging in every child if universal design principles are applied to the structure as a whole.
Figure 4. Build Jake’s Place Playground
Play is crucial to children’s emotional, social, and physical development. Yet, inclusive playgrounds are rare due to the ADA’s insufficient requirements. Universal design allows disabled children to play independently and alongside their friends. The positive impact of universal design extends beyond disabled children to injured children or disabled caregivers who wish to use the playground.
We all have ways we can make our world more accessible. As an engineer, I incorporate universal design into my projects, like the play table for the wheelchair-using kindergartener. As a community member, you can attend public meetings and advocate for more ramps at local playgrounds. Take action where you can, because every child deserves to play.
References:
Interaction Design Foundation – IxDF. (2015, November 24). The Seven Principles of Universal Design. Interaction Design Foundation – IxDF. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/the-seven-principles-of-universal -design
Ripat, J., & Becker, P. (2012). Playground Usability: What Do Playground Users Say? Occupational Therapy International., 19(3), 144–153. https://doi.org/10.1002/oti.1331
Sonday, A., & Gretschel, P. (2016). Empowered to Play: A Case Study Describing the Impact of Powered Mobility on the Exploratory Play of Disabled Children. Occupational Therapy International., 23(1), 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/oti.1395
A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Play Areas. U.S. Access Board. (2007, January). https://www.access-board.gov/ada/guides/chapter-10-play-areas/