Inclusive playgrounds growing in Minnesota, Wisconsin
Expanding opportunities for kids of all abilities
Since last summer, a one-day event has exploded into a year-round opportunity for kids of all abilities to have some fun.
(FOX 9) - During playtime with mom in the park, there’s one thing 8-year-old Felix Brunelle loves best.
"I like to go fast on the playground in my chair," Felix says through a computer which speaks for him through the words he types.
Like many patients at Gillette Children's Hospital, Felix relies on his electric scooter to get around.
After a successful "Day of Play" the hospital organized last July at fully accessible playgrounds, it was realized this community needs and deserves more.
Instead of grassroots efforts by physicians and individual referrals for things like adaptive skiing or rock climbing, the opportunities for kids like Felix have blossomed into events all year under the umbrella "Together We Play."
"I mean, what is childhood without play, right? That's such a pivotal part of being a kid," says Dr. Matt Severson, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Physican. "Play is how kids explore their environment, build their curiosity, how they learn to interact with others, right, like the foundation of being a good team player as an adult and interacting with your coworkers or in society, you know, having good relationships as an adult."
Find a playground map
Gillette has also created a place to find the growing number of fully accessible playgrounds in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Anyone can submit suggestions and Gillette confirms the playground is indeed accessible for wheelchairs, scooters and other needs.
"There's always opportunity for more right," says Felix's mom, Haley Brunelle. "We will never stop advocating for inclusive play until there is an inclusive play space in every you know at every school in Minnesota, but there are more and more popping up.
As more play spaces are being built, Haley continues to bring awareness to a Minnesota law she helped pass last year. Large public buildings, ranging from movie theaters, stadiums, large parks, must be built with adult-sized changing tables.
"A lot of Minnesota families with disabilities don't leave the house simply because they don't have a place that they can go to that feels safe and clean and has the resources available for them to go to the bathroom," says Jaley.
"The world is just now starting to wake up to all the different types of people there are in the world," says Haley. "Realize that we are better together and the more we come together and learn about each other, and not be afraid of interacting with each other, the more opportunity we have to interact with each other the more we learn how right, and it just becomes second nature."
To find a map of inclusive playgrounds, click here.