[blindkid] Playground Equipment

Tue Jan 31 16:02:02 UTC 2012

Thank you so much!  These are all excellent suggestions!

Debbie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Playground Equipment

> Lots of great suggestions. I underscore my agreement with the suggestions 
> on safety issues like avoiding rail-free platforms and "walk-under" 
> hazards above cane level.
>
> Thinking back to the National Convention in Kentucky the last time (maybe 
> 8 years ago?), I remember a stairway in front of the room where we had the 
> braille book flea market. It descended to the main walkway and floated 
> down like a giant wedge that was higher than I could reach when it 
> started. I lost count of the number of cane travelers whom I saw walk 
> under that as it descended over their heads until they scraped the top of 
> their heads. The "clothesline effect" is even worse from some of the 
> floating platforms in playground equipment. (Same thing for suspension 
> bridges and such.) If I were designing these features for blind / vi kids, 
> I think something on the ground , like maybe a short wall or handrails 
> parallel to the features above would be in order.
>
> Something else I have often wondered--- what might be possible to set 
> aside an obvious "zone" around the swings? Especially when she was 
> younger, I often had to dash in and scoop Kendra aside before she walked 
> in front of kids swinging. It seems like there might be a way to change 
> the ground cover or do something to let blind kids know that in this area, 
> swings may be in motion... not that I didn't have similar problems with 
> sighted kids who would walk straight in front of moving swings as well!
>
> One more thing that I have seen to be somewhat hard to navigate... "things 
> on sticks", meaning, for example, little platforms that act sort of like 
> stepping stones over a pond, but they are small platforms the kids step 
> across up in the air a bit, with only a single narrow post from the 
> ground, or sometimes they are suspended and swing from a single overhead 
> poles and kids move from one to the next. If they float and swing, again, 
> they can be missed with a cane and in this case, be more of a shin or 
> knee-buster, and with the single-pole pedestals, the items are still wider 
> than the pole, so canes can miss the items or make kids think they are 
> clear of them, and therefore they pose a trip hazard.
>
> More than anything though, I suggest that blind kids who are old enough to 
> leave further than arm's reach (the same age as I'd leave sighted kids 
> beyond grabbing distance) just need a proper orientation to the setup, and 
> then the occasional verbal cue to remind them what they are headed 
> towards, especially the first several times they are using the playground 
> facility.
>
> We did have a particular concern at Kendra's first school as well. There 
> was an unsafe gap on an upper level of the equipment where I suspect a 
> vertical slat had been left off on an upper level that posed a 
> "step-through hazard". A $5 added plank solved the problem for good.
>
> I want to toss out one other safety concern for all kids (and especially 
> blind ones) just because I think it is always a great thing to remember 
> for playground safety and I have seen this happen too often. If a chid is 
> wearing a helmet for whatever reason-- occasionally for some special needs 
> kids, they are worn as protection for some sort of special concern, but 
> generally I'm talking about things kids have on because they were biking 
> to the park, or on a skateboard, etc., the helmet needs to come off before 
> they are on playground equipment unless you are 100% certain they pose no 
> hazard. (Some designs make this a greater concern than  others.)
>
> Here is why: there are clearance requirements to keep safe spaces when 
> kids slide through between play structures and platform levels. Gaps have 
> to be small enough to prevent step-through hazards and to absolutely keep 
> heads from getting caught, like spacing vertical balusters along stairways 
> safely in a home. Still, they have to have LARGE enough gaps not to 
> prevent a head from going through when a child's body slides through where 
> kids are INTENDED to go. An example would be descending between platform 
> levels, or dropping between them to get to the ground level.
>
> With a helmet on, kids can end up with their head being effectively the 
> largest (widest) part of their body. When that happens, kids can drop 
> through a gap, only to find their head is caught and they cannot move and 
> they are stuck, or worst case, if their body weight is unsupported, they 
> could obviously be seriously injured or killed.
>
> This isn't a theoretical situation. Children have ben accidentally hanged 
> by this hazard, from what I have read in the past. Sorry to post such a 
> gruesome thing, but it is a real hazard. I didn't have any real idea of 
> how dangerous this was until I read about it in a cycling magazine, and 
> then soon after, I witnessed a kid at the park (not my child) doing 
> exactly what they spoke of. He got off his bike, began climbing (right in 
> front of his parent) and then decided to squeeze right between platform 
> levels and drop to the ground,  only his head did not fit.
>
> Fortunately in this case, he was stopped before his fully body weight hit 
> is neck, but this really can be deadly. It was really frightening to see 
> happen. Sighted kids and parents often do not recognize the hazard (before 
> I read that article, I probably would have assumed it was safer because it 
> would protect a head in a fall from a platform) so I should think a blind 
> child is not terribly likely to anticipate such a hazard either.
>
> Since then, I have not seen another head get stuck, but I have seen dozens 
> of kids playing with helmets on while climbing on play structures--  
> usually when they have just gotten off of a bike.
>
> The only truly safe way to avoid this concern is to entirely block any 
> possible opening not so large that it would absolutely allow a helmet 
> wearing child to pass through the opening, and even then, there is always 
> the chance a helmet or helmet strap could snag. Once it happens a child 
> can end up stuck or suspended my a chin strap.
>
> Sorry for the long post and "safety lecture" on helmets, but maybe it will 
> prevent an injury for a child one day. We have to keep them all safe!
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 30, 2012, at 9:07 PM, Carol Castellano wrote:
>
>> For ALL kids!!!
>> Carol
>>
>> At 08:45 PM 1/30/2012, you wrote:
>>> When my vi twins were small, we went to a new park, and they had 
>>> climbing areas to get to the slide. (It was one of the big metal play 
>>> structures.) There were no rails on any of the sides. Both fell off at 
>>> the same time, one on each side. I would recommend rails on the sides 
>>> that where there isn't a slide or steps.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Doreen
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Deborah Kent Stein <dkent5817 at att.net>
>>> To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet BlindKid Mailing List 
>>> <BlindKid at NFBnet.org>
>>> Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 10:11 AM
>>> Subject: [blindkid] Playground Equipment
>>>
>>>
>>> I recently received an inquiry from a TVI in Chicago.  Please let me 
>>> know your thoughts and I'll pass them along to her.  Off the top of my 
>>> head, I don't know why a blind/VI child would need any adaptations in 
>>> order to use playground equipment, but it's been a LONG time since I 
>>> played on a playground!  Is there new stuff out there that would be hard 
>>> for a blind child to play with?
>>>
>>> _______________
>>>
>>> I am on the leadership committee at Neil School and would like some of 
>>> your valuable input concerning our VI students.  Neil  School is in the 
>>> process of designing and purchasing equipment for a playground to meet 
>>> the needs of the children during recess for next year. I have been asked 
>>> what type of equipment etc. would benefit students with visual 
>>> impairments. I know I can look in the instructional materials center 
>>> catalog for material but I wanted to know is there anyone who would have 
>>> more in depth knowledge. We are writing a proposal and I want to make 
>>> sure our VI students are represented when we submit the grant.
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> Carol Castellano
>> President, Parents of Blind Children-NJ
>> Director of Programs
>> National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
>> 973-377-0976
>> carol_castellano at verizon.net
>> www.blindchildren.org
>> www.nopbc.org
>>
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>
>
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