Dad Creates Innovative Designs For Handicap-Friendly Playgrounds [Video]

• Cody’s daughter, Harper, has been using a wheelchair all his life.
• After realizing that their local playgrounds were not designed for her, he started a nonprofit organization called Harper’s Playground to revolutionize the designs of parks across the US.
• His park designs are modern, innovative, fresh, and handicap-accessible, bringing people together regardless of disabilities.

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An Oregon dad, whose daughter has been using a wheelchair all her life, decided to revolutionize his community’s playground to become friendly enough for her.

After 11 years, his innovative ideas have spread across the country, making other playgrounds more accessible and fun, and more inclusive — regardless of a child’s disability.

G Cody QJ Goldberg realized he had to do something about the playground after he took her 4-year-old daughter, Harper, to his local park for the first time in 2009. He was dismayed to see that the place was mostly inappropriate and inaccessible for special kids like Harper.

Unfortunately, the city’s parks and recreation department didn’t have enough money to renovate the park, but they expressed their support for changes if it was funded privately.

That’s when Cody started his own nonprofit organization called Harper’s Playground — devoted to revolutionizing playgrounds and parks across the US. After three years of raising funds tirelessly, they finally opened to the public their first handicap-friendly park in November 2010.

His playground designs include a variety of elements — from musical instruments, turtles, green grass spaces, paved ramps to all other accessible equipment for all abilities. 

He infused three levels in his designs:

“The space has to be physically inviting, so if you use wheels you can get absolutely everywhere,” says Cody. “Then we say it should be socially inviting, with circular seating areas, communal gathering spaces and the use of nature. And then the third level is what we call emotionally inviting, and that’s by using art, good design lines, music, and things that put us in an even better emotional state.”

Since opening their first parks in Portland, many others have been inspired to do the same all over the country.

Source: Good News Network