Playing to accept
Future playground intended to include 'Everybody'
Mandy Toepfer
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Campus Life
A few weeks after he was born in 1997, a boy named Shane Alexander lost his life to spinal muscular atrophy. If he had lived, he would have been restricted to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He'd miss out on the simple joys in life, like playing on a playground with other children.
It was with the help of his parents and a family friend that a mournful time was turned into a triumphant one: creating an organization called Shane's Inspiration. In turn, they created the first universally accessible playground in the western United States (Los Angeles, Calif.) and the largest one in the nation, according to its Web site.
After seeing a need in Pittsburg and hearing about Shane's Inspiration at the National Recreation and Park Association Conference in Seattle, Wash., during the Fall 2006 semester, Chuck Killingsworth got to thinking.
"You might say the presentation by Shane's Inspiration was a part of the inspiration of why can't we do it here? You don't have to be a huge city to do this."
With the encouragement of Credible Arts Therapy Inc., a Southeast Kansas organization that offers therapy to the disabled, the playground project started to take shape during Killingsworth's semester-long sabbatical in the spring of 2007.
"We came up with the name Everybody Plays because it embodies what we're trying to do," said Killingsworth, professor in the Health, Human Performance, and Recreation Department. "Basically what we want to create is a playground, and it'll be at Schlanger Park, that will accommodate everybody, in particular, of course, children, but children with and without disabilities. It's not a quote 'handicapped playground.' … (It) will be as accessible as possible so that all children can play together and adults can go with their children or grandchildren at the same time."
Killingsworth gathered nonprofit agencies around the area to participate in his cause, including SKILL, the Southeast Kansas Independent Living Resource Center, USD 250 and SEK-CAP.
It was with the help of his parents and a family friend that a mournful time was turned into a triumphant one: creating an organization called Shane's Inspiration. In turn, they created the first universally accessible playground in the western United States (Los Angeles, Calif.) and the largest one in the nation, according to its Web site.
After seeing a need in Pittsburg and hearing about Shane's Inspiration at the National Recreation and Park Association Conference in Seattle, Wash., during the Fall 2006 semester, Chuck Killingsworth got to thinking.
"You might say the presentation by Shane's Inspiration was a part of the inspiration of why can't we do it here? You don't have to be a huge city to do this."
With the encouragement of Credible Arts Therapy Inc., a Southeast Kansas organization that offers therapy to the disabled, the playground project started to take shape during Killingsworth's semester-long sabbatical in the spring of 2007.
"We came up with the name Everybody Plays because it embodies what we're trying to do," said Killingsworth, professor in the Health, Human Performance, and Recreation Department. "Basically what we want to create is a playground, and it'll be at Schlanger Park, that will accommodate everybody, in particular, of course, children, but children with and without disabilities. It's not a quote 'handicapped playground.' … (It) will be as accessible as possible so that all children can play together and adults can go with their children or grandchildren at the same time."
Killingsworth gathered nonprofit agencies around the area to participate in his cause, including SKILL, the Southeast Kansas Independent Living Resource Center, USD 250 and SEK-CAP.
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