The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush (and amended in 2008), provides disabled Americans with protections similar to those of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among those protections are accessibility requirements for public accommodations.
Public parks, by law, are required to be ADA compliant.
But what does that mean, particularly in a practical sense?
To answer that, let's take a look at a park near where we live, which is fairly indicative of parks in the area.
What does ADA compliance mean to a local park? Here are two main components to compliance (can click on to enlarge):
That's right...a ramp into the play area and the surface area of the playground. Notice there's no connecting sidewalks to get *to* the ramp. [Bureaucratic checklists often don't require logic.]
And as for the wood chips, it meets the requirements for "compaction, propulsion and turning capabilities for mobility devices"...assuming it is maintained, which it rarely is; instead it is most often rough and uneven.
So let's look at the playground equipment itself:
And the ADA compliance? See the arrows below (you may need to click to enlarge to view):
Those two ground-level pieces allow the playground be ADA compliant. That's it.
[JoAnn here: The size of the first step and hand holds to assist in transfer from chair to the structure are also part of ADA compliance. Theoretically, the child could transfer and then walk with the help of the railing or crawl up the stairs. We learned quickly that crawling on the deck of a play structure located in wood mulch meant hundreds of tiny splinters in unprotected skin.]
On un- or under-maintained surfacing where Evanna would have difficulty propelling herself in her chair even under ideal conditions, where do playgrounds like this leave her?
That's right: crawling in those wood chips, slivers and all.
Many believe that ADA compliance of playgrounds guarantees some level of inclusiveness, which isn't the case at all. This is part of the reason we'll be evaluating parks in the area as the weather allows, including some that have been heralded (or marketed) as inclusive, to show the reality of both access and use.
