Rochester’s 19th Ward is getting a new community-built playground complete with inclusive design features.
Moving platforms. Slides. Large chimes. A communication board. A spot where someone can transfer out of a wheelchair and climb up a bouncy net.
This dynamic playground replaces one that Jesse Knoth with Healthi Kids described as boring and in bad shape.
“This was both a high-need area and a poor condition playground is why it was high on our list,” Knoth said. “Every kid deserves an amazing place to play in their neighborhood.”
The play space at 200 Arnett Blvd. was created in partnership with the city of Rochester and KABOOM!, a national nonprofit working to end playspace inequity.
"For many, (play is) a privilege,” said David Slade, the nonprofit's chief development officer. “We want to make sure that everyone has the right to play, to seek joy, to make sure they can reach their full potential.”
Wade Norwood, chief advancement officer at Common Ground Health, said the inclusive elements are necessary so all children can reap the benefits of play.
“Play is such a powerful resource for children, because it creates spaces for healing, and I think it creates places for negotiation and for learning life,” Norwood said.
“How to balance how brave I am to climb, with how much it hurts when I fall,” Norwood continued. “How to negotiate taking turns so that the big kid doesn't get to slide all of the time. Those are lessons we learn on the playground.”
For Norwood, it’s also personal.
“My wife and I had to, sadly, advocate constantly on behalf of our daughter Tiffany while she was alive to have access to things that all children should be able to have access to,” he said.
The couple's daughter was 8 when she died in 2000. Tiffany Grace was blind, deaf and quadriplegic with “baseline reflex behavior,” Norwood said. He said she lit up when playing with finger paints, sparkly play-sand, and different textures, and that showed him how valuable play can be.
“That was a delight for her,” he said.
West High Field’s new playground opens on Oct. 24.
