pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-07-11.pdf, 14
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2018-07-11 | 14 | COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MEETING MINUTES Wednesday July 11, 2018 6:30 p.m. Susan Deutsch: So the disabled population is 12% in our country, but if you start including people who are involved with this group of people, like their parents, their siblings, their grandparents, their friends, then one in three people are touched by a person who has a severe disability. And disability challenges are affecting individuals and their families, spend a day at the park. So, if you're a grandparent and you're in a walker, you might still want to go to the park with your grandchild. So all these things have to be considered when you're looking at what is an accessible playground. Susan Deutsch: So an inclusive playground addresses the needs of all people, including those who have autism, intellectual disabilities, hearing impairments, visual impairments, cerebral palsy, physical disabilities, and any other impairment that somebody might have. It addresses the needs of typical children and it accommodates everyone and provides challenges at all the children's developmental level, so all children can be challenged to explore. Susan Deutsch: The mission is that it's an important time. Childhood, it is an important time for opportunities to interact socially and strengthen the imagination. An inclusive playground provides inclusive play areas for all children, regardless of their ability. And unfortunately special needs children are often excluded from activities when facilities are not capable of accommodating these children. They're left out of play experiences that most children get exposed to. An inclusive playground has play features for both abled as well as disabled kids, and that both typical children and disabled children should be able to play together. Susan Deutsch: So the background on Tatum's Garden, I'm not going to read all of this, because you have the handout, but two parents of a child with spina bifida went to Idaho and found this inclusive playground and saw their child start to play with her siblings. And they live in Salinas, they came back to Salinas, and they got approval from the City Council to build this playground in an abandoned parking lot. And they started raising money. Well, there was a non-profit agency in Salinas that they used to do the fund raising. And they thought there were going to be so many obstacles and this was going to take years, and they did it in a few months, they collected a million dollars from people all over Monterey County, and it was kind of amazing. And there was an incredible number of volunteers also that helped in the building process of this playground. Susan Deutsch: The playground was built by a company called Leathers and Associates, and they've designed many playgrounds all over the United States, and they specialize in inclusive, accessible playgrounds. The playground cost $750,000. A lot of local artists donated their time. You'll see, when I show the pictures of these murals that are in the playground. So it's a playground, but it's very artistic and it's very interesting. Susan Deutsch: So in terms of fund raising, when people donated money, there's an area in the entry way that has bricks and you can get your name engraved on a brick for the money you donated. There are sponsors that donated money that are on a list, and a lot of those are companies all over Monterey County that donated significant amounts of money. And then parts of the playground have these picket fences and people's names are on those picket fences, and all these people have donated and their names are there, and some of them are families and some of them are 09/12/18 Page 14 of 29 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-07-11.pdf |