Play parks in Belfast not meeting needs of disabled kids

Belfast City Council has admitted play parks in the city “excluded” children after hearing from representatives of PlayBoard NI and the Mae Murray Foundation who gave details of an online Northern Ireland study undertaken in spring 2019.

Members at the people and communities committee heard that in the ‘Let Me Play’ study by the two groups, 57% of children were unable to play in play parks as often as they would like, 56% had to travel long distances to access parks that met their play needs, and 40% rated their play park experience as poor or very poor. Around 500 families responded to the survey.

Angela Stallard of PlayBoard NI told councillors the survey produced “some very alarming and sad statistics”. She said: “It highlights that many families and children continue to be excluded from play parks or that sadly they are not having their needs met.

“Sadly the main problem families were reiterating was about poor attitudes towards them within play parks. That is obviously still a challenge across society in many ways. But this is something that really came out of the survey and focus groups we ran.”

She added: “Families are consistently talking about the same barriers. The first barrier is getting to the park, that might be lack of transport, lack of accessible public transport or even something as simple as an accessible route with dropped kerbs.

“They also talk about accessible site facilities, so that’s about infrastructure supporting a visit to the park – toileting, parking, eateries etc. In particular families were wanting toilets to be Changing Places standard, as opposed to a standard disabled toilet. Eateries, picnic benches continually were not planned or designed for the needs of groups we talked to.

“Families also talked about access to play – that’s when you are looking at equipment and how you may approach equipment, how it’s laid out, and how people can take part.

“Participation in play is key. It is not just about being in the environment, it is about having an equal experience. Actively taking part, having choice, challenge, variety. It doesn’t mean every child can take equal part in every piece of equipment, it means everyone should have equal opportunity to have variety and choice that suits their needs.”

The council agreed to adopt the full findings from both the ‘Let Me Play’ report and the UK Play Safety Forum and Children’s Play Policy Forum statement into its park and play park planning processes.