Research Paper

    Remember those childhood days spending time at the playground full of memories and laughter, as lovely as it is there are people who do not have the advantages like you did, to experience playing park. All spaces should be inclusive because it is not detrimental to anyone’s well being, and it helps include everyone. Inclusive spaces can be created by changing stairs to ramps and gender bathrooms to gender neutral bathrooms along with accessibility for people that are disabled which means having wider doors or shorter sinks. A small renovation can turn into a big impact.

    Children with disabilities are restricted from having a memorable childhood because they have less advantage when it comes to playing at parks or even their gym classes. “In 2010, the Department of Justice revised the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, changing the accessibility standards for playgrounds. The new rules mandate that compliant playgrounds need to be accessible via ramps and barrier-free travel routes, include a range of accessible play options, and provide an appropriate surface beneath all accessible equipment.” (Barber) This is an example of how to start creating inclusive spaces.

This is a visual representation of a playground that does not allow children with disabilities. This is a park that you will see wherever you go because this is the typical playground that is everywhere. Just because it is everywhere does not make it the right. Parks like this restricts children from having fun because not everyone is included. The image below is a playground that was made to be accessible to most if not all (Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, California). The playground has enough space for people in wheelchairs to move around along with space to allow kids to run around. One thing that was very efficient was the slide. The slide in the image below is a wider slide than the typical slide, and it has a sitting area at the end of the slide where children can leave there wheelchair so by the time they slide down they will have their wheelchair there.

.

   The world was not made with the thought of accommodating people with disabilities. “The Stalled proposal—which included single-stall restrooms, floor plans meant to guarantee mobility access, as well as layouts that guaranteed privacy—was meant to exemplify design that “casts a wider net” in terms of looking at how different users approach the same space and task.”(Sisson)

This is a designed that was made to show how inclusive spaces are similar to how bathrooms are now except with more to it and includes people with disabilities. Doors that are accessible for

people with wheelchairs, sinks that are low enough for people in wheelchairs to access. This space was made for everyone to be comfortable and it meets everyone’s needs. The image below is just a design but it can turn into reality if people realize that these spaces are more practical for everyone’s uses.

People don’t always see things from the perspective of people with disabilities, so they don’t understand the difficulties and obstacles they go through just to have a daily routine. “He was sympathetic. He understood the difficulties I faced. Only what was it he could do? He could give me sympathy. He could speak to me frankly… and tell me what I knew: that my right of access was a distinctly minor priority to the city” (Kriegal, 129).  Right now, it is already difficult to walk in Midtown. I hate walking in Midtown because it is always packed which frustrates me since people constantly bump into me. Imagine being in a wheelchair trying to get through Midtown. The world did not make buildings with the thought of having the need to accommodate disabled people. People with disabilities need to worry about how to get up a hill or they might even be forced to go to a train station that is further away just because this station does not have an elevator or a ramp. Kriegal took the next step by mention and speaking up about the difficulties that he must go through on a daily basis but unfortunately it was not taken as a major issue because once again people don’t get to see how a crippled world is like therefore, they can’t empathize because it doesn’t relate to them.  

As generations go on, the world is slowly getting more and more accepting of everyone whether it is accepting the LGBTQ+ group or supporting them. In Participatory Retrofitting of School Playgrounds: Collaboration between Children and University Students to Develop a Vision, by M.E. Menconi they talk about how kids can also contribute in creating spaces and that is a very valid point because kids are innocent, they haven’t really gotten a taste of the real world so everything that is told to them is what they are going to believe. Having children create inclusive spaces is a great idea because they don’t know better but they know much more and have less of an opinion on the world. There have been many stories of children shaving their heads because their friend with cancer feels left out and attacked or wearing an eye patch because their friend has one on. Little acts like that will go a long way in creating inclusive spaces for everyone to feel welcomed to.

I have next door neighbors that I am very close with and unfortunately their upstairs neighbor is disabled and is very hard for her to get up the stairs. In the summer time I would sit with them on the porch and just talk and play with my neighbor’s dog. Around 8pm was when her upstairs neighbors would come home, and I witnessed the process of getting her upstairs neighbor up the stairs. First, she would have to bring the dogs back inside the house, but we had to open the little gate for her to get to the porch. The stairs were hard to get up and there were many stairs. She had to stop every three steps because it was just very hard for her legs to keep going and when she finally got the porch she had to sit for a while to catch her breath and rest her legs because she had more stairs to go in order to get into her home. Till this day she has to go through this and I just think it takes a lot of toughness and willpower to push yourself every day to go through the same thing even though she knows how hard it is.

 

The world has been progressing on including everyone in everyday life. For example the MTA has made a change by adding elevators in subway stations and ramps on the buses and reserved seats for the disabled.

(Brockman)

The image above shows Mr. Morris waiting to get one his bus but just from the image it seems to be difficult to fit through the door especially in coach buses because unlike MTA buses where there are any stairs or a back door; Mr. Morris would have to be carried onto the bus along with his chair folded. Technology advances every day but that all disappears the second someone reaches a door that they cannot fit through. For example going to a airport is a hassle for everyone; the long waits, the amount of metal and people that you have to check in with before even getting to the gate that you need to go to. Arriving to the airport 2 hours prior to your flight or else you will miss your flight sounds absurd but imagine being in a wheelchair then you might even have to arrive 3-4 hours earlier because you are not being accommodated. How would Mr. Morris be able to put all his bags onto the conveyor belt along with his wheelchair? How would Mr. Morris get to the metal detector if he can’t stand, he also can’t sit because he wheelchair is metal? Sadly, there isn’t any right answer as of right now because nobody has really made the effort to change anything in this world because it is not a challenge for people without disabilities.  

Overall, it may be said that creating inclusive spaces is not detrimental for most but very helpful for the select few. Inclusive spaces means the inclusion of everyone not just him or her but everyone. Inclusive spaces are very important especially now. The issue should be fixed before it is an actual issue that is brought up in a bigger conversation because at the end of the day it will have to be addressed and altered into the accommodation of everyone.

 

Arieff, Allison. “Designing a More Inclusive City.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/opinion/designing-inclusive-cities.html.

Barber, Megan. “Why Cities Need Accessible Playgrounds.” Curbed, Curbed, 20 July 2018, www.curbed.com/2018/7/20/17582148/accessible-playgrounds-design-ada-standards-inclusive.

 

Sisson, Patrick. “How Bathroom Design Can Be a Bridge to More Accessible Architecture.” Curbed, Curbed, 31 July 2018, www.curbed.com/2018/7/31/17636872/transgender-bathroom-accessibility-design-stalled.

Brockman, Joshua. “For Disabled Travelers, Technology Helps Smooth the Way. But Not All of It.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/business/for-disabled-travelers-technology-helps-smooth-the-way-but-not-all-of-it.html.

 

Kriegel, Leonard. “Beloved Enemy A Crippled in the Crippled City.”

 

Menconi, M.E, and D Grohmann. Participatory Retrofitting of School Playgrounds: Collaboration between Children and University Students to Develop a Vision. Elsevier, 2018.

 

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome to Social Paper (beta)!

Skip to toolbar