Twin Meadows: A boundless playground

October 26, 2003 · Comments

We participated in something truly special today. We attended the grand opening of Twin Meadows, a Boundless Playground on the property of the elementary school our girls attend. Twin Meadows is a universal playground meaning that the entire playground is more than just wheelchair accessible. Physically disabled and “typically” abled children can play *together* on everything. There are swings with high backs and supports and slides that children of all abilities can navigate. At the same time, it’s a fun playground for even the most athletic typical child. Stillmeadow School where it’s located happens to have the largest percentage of physically disabled students in the district. But what makes the school special is that there is no distinction from the Special Education kids to the general population. The principal does a wonderful job of making everyone feel included and part of the community. Laini has thrived at that school, and it was a huge factor in our decision to renovate our house rather than move.

I have been heavily involved with issues around special education advocacy for the past five years, and while I wasn’t part of the planning of the playground Eric and I have supported the effort in every way that we could. We attended fund raisers, made a personal donation and I’ve helped spread the word through SCOPES. The initial goal was to raise $500,000 for the construction and initial maintenance of the playground. According to their website they have now raised just under $800,000 and they are considering starting a foundation to help create programs and activities where physically disabled children can be full participants with their peers. The city gave the section of land to the organization so they would not have to rely on city budgets to maintain it. It started with one family who owns a prominent construction firm here in Stamford, and their desire to have a playground that their twin 6 year-old daughters could play on together. One girl is “typical” the other has multiple challenges with cerebral palsy. Jacki, the child with a disability spends part of her day in Emily’s kindergarten class with her aide. Jacki can’t walk or talk but she can communicate by blinking her eyes. Emily considers Jacki her friend and is thrilled that starting tomorrow Jacki will be able to play with her at recess time.

The opening today was a who’s who in local Special Needs support and advocacy. There were speeches by the Mayor, State Representatives, Attorney General and others. By the time the developer of the project was finished speaking there was barely a dry eye to be found.

speeches

The playground is quite simply the best playground I have ever seen. It is gorgeous. It is huge, and the few pictures I took today didn’t do it justice. The girls played for two hours and it was hard to get them to leave. In addition to a tremendous climbing, running and jumping section there are swings, slides, musical and sensory-based rides, a waterfall and a wheelchair accessible treehouse (which you can see in the picture above). It is open to the community during non-school hours so I know we’ll be spending lots of time there.

Oh, and Elmo came for a visit too:

elmo

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