	December 1997

Play for All

Hadley's Park
Danielle Sweeney
All kids need a place to play, and no mother knows this better than Shelley Kramm, of Potomac, Maryland.

Kramm has two daughters, Sarah, 9, and Hadley, who is 5 and has cerebral palsy. Like most moms, Kramm took her girls to play at the neighborhood playgrounds near her home. And like most moms, Kramm wanted her daughters to be able to play and have fun on the playground equipment together, like sisters should. But Hadley's disability made it practically impossible for her to play on conventional playground equipment with Sarah or other non-disabled children. Hadley would sit with her mom and watch while Sarah played on the swing or rocking horse. Kramm knew that her youngest daughter was missing out on important childhood socializing and fun. She also knew that Hadley was not alone.

Kramm was frustrated that Hadley didn't have a place to play like other kids her age. So two years ago she decided to change that. This interior designer-mom put her planning skills and background in landscape architecture to work designing a playground for Hadley and other kids like her, a playground that all kids could enjoy--Hadley's Park. Kramm drew up a plan for an accessible playground created specifically for children with disabilities, the first playground of its kind in the region. She rallied the support of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission which helped her obtain a site, Falls Road Park. Next, Kramm needed to raise the money to develop the playground, and buy and install the equipment.

Construction of the three fourths of an acre park is expected to cost $500,000, $125,000 of which has already been raised by Kramm and Hadley's Park, Inc, a non-profit established to fund the project.

Delegate Mark Shriver (D-Montgomery County) introduced a bill in the General Assembly last session that would have earmarked $250,000 for the park, but the bill failed. Delegate Shriver, who is on the Hadley's Park board, intends to try again next session and, according to Kramm, is very optimistic about securing funding.

Some of Hadley's Park's unique features include safety surfacing built from recycled tires and wind chimes to create a multi-sensory experience for children who are blind or who have low vision. The safety surfacing is easier to push wheelchairs or strollers on and is also safer for kids who might take a tumble. The park will be organized around four thematic play areas: a pirate ship, a frontier village, a castle bridge, and a transportation area which looks like a city street. The entire park will be accessible to kids who use wheelchairs and/or walkers.

"The castle bridge is something I designed specifically for kids in wheelchairs," Kramm explained. The castles are joined by two different bridges that look like they are going over a moat. The pirate ship is also designed with the wheelchair users in mind. Kids can wheel all the way up to the gangplank to board the ship and play games on panels placed at wheelchair level.

Each area of the park will have descriptive signage in Braille and other features for blind youngsters such as a tactile globe on the pirate ship with raised continents and swirls of oceans for children to explore.

Kramm says that her frustration motivated her to complete this project.

"People don't realize how much kids with special needs go through, " Kramm says. "the doctors appointments, having blood drawn, OT, PT,.." I wanted to give these kids something to smile about," she says.

Kramm also saw the playground as a way for parents of special needs kids to meet others in similar situations. It's difficult for parents of special needs kids to meet and talk with one another, Kramm says. Hadley's Park, which will have benches and picnic tables for family and friends, will be a place for parents to network and socialize with others in the special needs community. And finally, Hadley and other children with special needs will have playground to call their own.

For more information on the Hadley's Park project, call (301) 424-2112.

Danielle Sweeney is a Baltimore-based freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Horizons, Baltimore's Child, Potomac Children, and various parenting publications around the country. Comments on this story can be sent to
bedlam@erols.com.

Home

Newsletter

Calendar

Index

Contact