Go to a park on a sunny summer afternoon and you'll find the playground and the surrounding grass are packed with children, childminders and parents.
The equipment's probably not in great shape, but children are climbing determinedly on to the swings and slides, and running around on the springy ground. The sight is duplicated in urban parks and playgrounds across the UK. And so is one disturbing omission from the overall picture. Where are all the disabled children?
Recent articles in Out of School, the Nursery World supplement for playworkers, have explained very clearly that accessible, inclusive playschemes are not as difficult to set up as many people think. A number of organisations such as Kidsactive, the Children's Play Council and London Play are working on making them widespread. London Play is working with the Greater London Assembly and the Mayor's office on an inclusive play strategy for the capital.
Most play organisations have committed themselves to making play available to children of all abilities and cultures. Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act to be implemented in 2004 will cover indoor and outdoor adventure playgrounds, leisure centres, play areas in public parks and playgroups. In practice, it is up to individual local authorities how they actually put this into effect in their areas - and in most cases the outcome is likely to mean refurbishments rather than new facilities - but it is still a very good sign. The Government is also committed to producing good practice guidance for local authorities on making playgrounds inclusive.
But so far, getting out with the children for an afternoon presents sometimes unsurmountable difficulties if one of them has special needs.
London Play director Adrian Voce says, 'Most public facilities are designed for a particular prototype of the human child that doesn't cover the vast diversity of children and their needs for access.' This in turn means that facilities which can accommodate disabled children come under such pressure that they can't take many others. And since many of the existing facilities, such as Kidsactive's London playgrounds, are for slightly older children, under-fives are particularly left out.
Not counted
Until very recently, disabled children did not even feature in most play surveys. The Children's Play Council and the New Policy Institute have recently looked at play provision across England. 'The literature review found very little on the use of play provision by children with disabilities. That's significant in itself,' points out Tim Gill, director of the Children's Play Council. The information that did emerge was not encouraging. 'We found that although providers often describe themselves as willing to include disabled children, in practice the access is very difficult.'
In June this year, the charity Contact a Family published a survey of play provision for disabled children across the UK called Everybody here?.
National development officer Pauline Shelley, who compiled the report, says that she felt overwhelmed reading parents' comments. 'I knew that there were huge problems, because parents bring up the issue of access to leisure facilities time and again. But when you get a mass response from around the country it really hits you in the face.'
Everybody here? does not ask about specific play equipment, but it does look at physical barriers, including parking, toilet and changing facilities, as well as concessions and staff attitudes. The section on 'local mainstream facilities' is the one that really sums up the day-to-day problems of an afternoon out with disabled children. Out of eight amenities, playgrounds come out worst for parking, for staff willingness to help, and for accessible changing facilities/toilets.
This last point is particularly important. One parent is quoted asking, 'How can anyone go on an outing and manage all day without going to the toilet?' Another adds, 'None of the disabled toilets in our surrounding area have an area where you can change a six-year-old. I am told there are not enough disabled children to warrant the need for a special toilet for them. I am often taken to the disabled toilets and told to change her on the floor'.
Unhelpful attitudes
But it's not just physical access to facilities that hampers disabled children and their families. Everybody here? shows the barriers put up by other people's attitudes. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said the most helpful thing that could be provided would be 'staff trained to help my child', because they encountered so many rigid rules when they tried to go out. One parent said that 'attempts to attend mainstream swimming sessions always end in disaster, with the staff drawing attention to my son's "bad behaviour"'.
A number of families said that they didn't even try visiting amenities like museums or bowling alleys, because of the attitudes of the staff and the general public. One parent commented, 'Even on queue-jumping schemes one has to undergo abuse and hurtful comments from the public which spoil the day for us all.'
Another parent said, 'Mainstream children laugh at my child. He is intelligent and able physically but has speech and language problems so he cannot explain or understand straightaway. He understands what people say and do but the mainstream children and adults don't realise this.'
If staff and the general public were more used to seeing disabled children, then attitudes might change. Because there is so little provision for them, when children with special needs do go out in public they may be the centre of much unwanted attention.
The report by Contact a Family confirms what everyone involved in the field of disability has been saying for some time. But it also gives the kind of 'hard data' that campaigns for inclusive play provision can use, as well as details of the legislation and Government programmes such campaigns can draw on. There is also a comprehensive list of recommendations and a call for a 'disabled children's champion' to push disabled children's issues at Government level.
Everybody here? cites a number of successful campaigns for inclusive play provision at local level. The most ambitious is Julie Marriott and Nicola Ashby's TOCK playground project, which is setting up an inclusive playground in Leicester.
Both women have four-year-old sons with multiple disabilities, and they find themselves in the same boat with many parents. 'We just want to live as normal a life as we can, and we have a lot of difficulties to overcome,'
says Julie. 'My son Toby can't walk, and that's one of the main difficulties with trying to access a playground. We can't shoehorn him into a baby swing any more, so there's nothing for him to play on.
'What we've realised is that all other disabled children are having the same problem. A number of sites that claim to have an inclusive policy actually only have just one token piece of equipment.'
Zoned for success
Impressively, Julie and Nicola have won full backing from Leicester City Council, as well as patronage from disabled athlete Tanny Gray-Thompson.
'We needed to join with another body, especially as we felt very strongly that this playground had to be free,' Julie explains. 'It took us a year to get council assent, but we got permission to go ahead at the end of May 2002. The council has allowed us to build on the land, and it will then re-adopt and maintain it after the playground's built.'
They are now working on a draft design, which splits the 3.5-acre site into five zones, including a Toddler Zone. 'That zone will have accessible swings for all children in that age range, a wheelchair roundabout, extra-wide slides so parents and carers can go down them with children, and transfer platforms so children who can crawl can go from one piece of equipment to another. It'll have an inner fence around it as well.' The project, which has already been strongly recommended by a range of disability and children's charities, launches as a charity next month.
'I'd like to be able to have Toby's birthday party at the park, with disabled and non-disabled children all playing on the same equipment,' says Julie. It's a very simple ambition - and one that looks likely to be achieved. But it has taken enormous determination to get there.
Further information
* Everybody here? can be obtained from Contact a Family (for parents of disabled children). Helpline 0808 808 3555, website www.cafamily.org.uk.
Nurseries or playgroups that wish to help raise funds for the TOCK project should contact Julie Marriott at Wisteria Cottage, Ratby Lane, Markfield, LE67 9RJ (tel: 01530 245468/ 0777 319 5304, website www.geocities.com/tockinclusive
