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Apr 12, 2008 6:51 pm US/Mountain
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Fort Collins Playground Unites Children
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ―
The southwest part of Fort Collins is home to a one-of-a-kind playground in Colorado. Inspiration Playground is a fully handicapped accessible playground for children of all abilities.
"The underlying philosophy of Inspiration Playground is to create a space where children of all different abilities can play together and not realize it's been designed especially for them," said Kathleen Benedict, senior landscape architect for the city of Fort Collins.
The park offers a wide variety of activities for children with various disabilities, from autism to blindness to mobility issues, while still being fun and challenging for all the children on the playground. The Fort Collins playground was inspired by Shanes Inspiration, a fully-accessible playground in Los Angeles.
"Just because a child has a disability it doesn't make them different in any way other than what they are able to do physically, and to be able to play together and disregard those abilities make them all the same," said Brown McGraw, who headed the task force to build Inspiration Playground.
Parents at the playground love the freedom it offers their children in part because they say it gives their children a chance to intermingle with other children.
"When children come we hope that they experience the ability to play with a host of other children in a lot of different ways," said Benedict. "That they can make friends easily and enjoy the experience they have with them.
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