The Access for All, Barrier-Free Playscape Committee was recently honoured with the Premiers Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities Award earlier this month.

The award recognizes leadership and achievement in creating and promoting inclusive communities.

The park, located at the Mattie McCullough Elementary School in Red Deer, is in year 3 of a 4-year process and was the brainchild of three parents who noticed children in wheelchairs were not able to play in the city parks.

That vision is slowly becoming a reality, thanks to partnerships with the City of Red Deer, all four Rotary Clubs, and the Rotaract Club, which is Rotarians under 30.

Chair of the Committee Grant Burchnall says the idea of the playground was to make it inclusive for kids of all abilities.

“This is a playground that we wanted to design so that people of all abilities can make use of it, hopefully, year round. So we loosely targeted 50% to be classified as ‘barrier-free’, but really the idea is to have a range of challenge because people have a range of abilities.”

Burchnall explains some of the details that make this playground unique.

“Rubberized flooring is important, and that allows a wheelchair or someone with crutches or just someone who is challenged by mobility, to easily get around. Also we do have extensive use of ramping. We have a rocking device that you can just roll right on to, and then all the kids that are involved in the play help make it move, so anybody of most any ability level can make use of that.”

For more information on the next phase of the project and how you can help contribute, you can check out their website, accessforallreddeer.ca.