CityNews Helps Kick Off Construction On Fully-Accessible Playground
Posted August 31, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Citytv is working closely with Scarborough Village Public School to create a fully accessible playground so every child at the school can enjoy recess with their friends.
“It’s going to be a rubber surface, so that anyone can come over, wheelchairs can come over it, carts, anything with wheels will be able to come over this, whether it’s a stroller, whether it’s an older person coming with their grandchildren to the park,” parent Leslie Rocklin explained.
The space will be constructed in a way that will allow wheelchairs to roll up on a ramp system. The new playground should be ready for the kids in about a month.
One of the first elements of the new park is already installed and a six-year-old girl named Selena, who uses a wheelchair, got to ride on a swing for the very first time.
“It was fun being on the swing. I feel like — that I’m going up in the sky. Higher, higher!” the youngster said.
Visually impaired children will be able to climb and play on the structure by detecting different textures built into the playground, along with ribbons that will guide them away from danger.
“We don’t want a playground that’s just accessible where there’s a piece of equipment for a child in wheelchairs or there’s a certain track that’s for a visually impaired child,” Scarborough Village P.S. principal Bonnie Inglis explained.
“We want it so that all children can play together at the same time.”
Parents, teachers and students have raised half-a-million dollars in 14 months to make their dream of the city’s first fully-accessible playground a reality, but just four days before construction was set to begin their plan was in jeopardy.
A renovation show on another network that was planning to document the important project pulled out at the last minute. Contractors had volunteered their time and services with the promise they’d be mentioned on the show. But Breakfast Television and CityNews picked up where the other left off and are working with the school to get the playground built. BT gave those volunteers the credit they deserve on air Thursday morning.
The school still needs to raise thousands of dollars to ensure the playground will be completed. Here’s the information you need to help:
Email: villageplaygrounds@rogers.com
416.396.6560
To see Jennifer Valentyne’s blog and photo gallery of the groundbreaking, click here.
