[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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