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Play areas and the ADA: Providing access and opportunities for all children.

Article Excerpt
All children deserve the right to play. But, for many children with disabilities, this right has been denied through the way play areas are designed. With the advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, the theoretical right of children with disabilities to access play areas became a law. As with many legal mandates, however, it has taken more than mere passage of a law to ensure this right. In October 2000, the official recommendations of the United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) with regard to playgrounds were sent to the Justice Department. This article will describe those recommendations in relation to play areas, including playgrounds at elementary schools. It will discuss what these recommendations are, who needs to comply, and when compliance begins. In addition, this article will describe specific definitions and requirements found in the recommendations and how these definitions and requirements apply to public playgrounds. This information is intended for all HPER professionals who may be considering the development of a new playground or updating existing playgrounds.

What Is the Americans with Disabilities Act?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a sweeping civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. It applies to all federal, state and local government facilities as well as to places of public accommodation. Part of this law includes regulations regarding the design of accessible recreation facilities and developed, outdoor recreation areas. The Access Board was given the formal authority to develop guidelines for those areas, including programs, entities, and structures that are available to the public for recreation. In order to create those guidelines, an advisory committee was created to provide advice and information on accessible design in these environments.

On October 18, 2000, the Access Board issued its guidelines (Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities; Play Areas, 2000). If adopted by the Department of Justice, these guidelines will be the ADA regulatory standards used for new construction and alterations of all public playgrounds in the nation. The adoption of these guidelines by the Department of Justice has not yet occurred.

What Is the Guidelines' Purpose?

In theory, these guidelines have been created to provide the access for children with disabilities to get to and from playgrounds and on and off of play structures, as well as opportunities for them to play and interact with other children. Specifically, the guidelines state that accessible surfaces must be provided for wheelchairs to move from the edge of the playground to the play area where playground structures are available for children with disabilities to play with other children both with and without disabilities. In addition, within the play area, access is required to at least one of each type of equipment provided....

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