[blindkid] Playground Equipment
Magaly Milton
magalymilton at mac.com
Tue Jan 31 19:34:12 UTC 2012
My daughter is legally blind and what has benefitted her the most on
school playgrounds is contrast. Since she has no depth perception, any
steps should have the yellow tape on the edges. Same goes for the
edges of swing bridges or even the end of the slide. Some of the older
metal equipment is especially dangerous as it is usually rusty brown
set against brown mulch. So the bottom rung of any climbing equipment
should be painted yellow. Obviously protection fence against swings
are essential because she cannot judge distance of a swing and get out
of the way in time because of the speed. Once she stepped out into a
tire bridge and fell 6 feet not realizing how high she was. Anything
black with a possible drop should have a net below to break a fall.
Oddly, rock climbing walls are no trouble at all because they are so
tactile. She has tripped right over balance beams that are low to the
ground. Again CONTRAST is key. I was once asked to be on the review
board for a new playground for a special needs school. Involving
parents in these decisions in the planning phase provided simple
inexpensive suggestions.
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