MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
For more than a decade, there have been efforts to create more inclusive playgrounds, ones where all the typical fixtures of fun, like slides, swing sets and monkey bars - where they can be used by kids of all abilities. A small city in northwest Ohio is the latest to open one of these accessible play spaces. Reporter Kendall Crawford with the Ohio Newsroom has more.
KENDALL CRAWFORD, BYLINE: So far, the summer afternoons at Lincoln Park in Bryan, Ohio, have been packed. Kids zigzag their way through crowds, play tag and taunting their parents to catch them if they can.
(CROSSTALK)
CRAWFORD: Josiah Nagy is giggling alongside them. He can't contain his joy as his father carries him down a slide made up of small rollers.
JOSIAH NAGY: (Laughter).
CRAWFORD: The bumpy slide is perfect for neurodivergent children who seek out heightened sensory experiences like Josiah. He has developmental disabilities and gets around on a wheelchair. And his mom, Emily Nagy, says he likes to go fast.
EMILY NAGY: When you think of a typical 5-year-old, they're running nonstop all day. And so if he can get that burst of something fast, you know, he loves that.
CRAWFORD: So he loves playgrounds. But at most parks, families like the Nagys struggle to navigate wheelchairs through wood chips or find a shady place to take a break, an important thing for kids like Josiah who struggle with heat regulation. Emily says the typical playground isn't designed for kids like him. It's a predicament that Paula Kline knows well. The former teacher's assistant was standing by a slide as a couple of kids raced by.
PAULA KLINE: Hey. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: Good.
KLINE: How about a hug?
CRAWFORD: Kline worked at the Bryan City School District for 12 years. And she says finding a space where her special education class could all play was difficult. They had to travel over an hour away and out of state for a suitable spot. For the last decade, she's dreamed of making that trip shorter for her former students.
KLINE: We need a park where all can play together - babies, handicapped, nonhandicapped. Everybody can play, develop and learn together.
CRAWFORD: That dream came true this summer, when the Lincoln Park Playground opened. There are ramps, handicap-accessible swings, Braille panels and plenty of canopies to help kids like Josiah to cool down. There are more than 1,100 accessible parks like it across the country, according to a National Health and Disability directory. Ben Dominique, the Parks and Recreation director for Bryan, says the small Ohio city is proud to have one of its own. He says at first, they thought about adding a small accessible space to an already existing playground but nixed that idea.
BEN DOMINIQUE: We didn't want to further separate them. We wanted to make sure that whatever we did was inclusive for all and they could all play on the same playground.
CRAWFORD: Josiah and his dad, Luke, like it that way. He says the community was able to fundraise the $700,000 for the playground because it's a win for every family in Bryan, not just his own.
LUKE NAGY: You see the vast majority of the kids here don't have any kind of handicap at all, and they're - seem like they're having a good time.
CRAWFORD: The biggest squeals of joy come from kids at the park's centerpiece, a tall, green slide. They scramble up the stairs and form a line that bounces in anticipation. They take turns sliding down as their parents shout encouragingly.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hey. Maisie's coming down.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: All right, Maisie.
CRAWFORD: Josiah and his mom zip down the slide together...
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: Wow. Watch you guys go.
E NAGY: Woo (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: They were fast.
CRAWFORD: ...Their laughter indistinct from the other families around them.
(LAUGHTER)
CRAWFORD: For NPR News, I'm Kendall Crawford, in Bryan.
(SOUNDBITE OF NIKI SONG, "EVERY SUMMERTIME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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