Samantha Adams sat in her wheelchair in the parking lot at Laurel Springs Regional Park bundled up in a pink jacket, looking at the playground that's not for kids like her.
The playground in the La Plata park has little to offer this 9-year-old from Waldorf, who suffers from a neurological disorder known as Rett syndrome. There is a climbing rock, metal jungle gyms, steep slides and sandy ground -- good for children who can run and jump but not for children with disabilities.
Brian Loewe of the county parks department places balloons on old equipment at Laurel Springs Regional Park.
(Photos Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)
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"There's no place in the county I can take her to play," said her mother, Angie Leib-Keesee. "There's no place I can give her the same opportunities as other children."
That is about to change.
After months of fundraising and organizing, dozens gathered Thursday at the park on Radio Station Road to hail the upcoming construction of a "barrier-free" playground, the first in the area built especially to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) presented a $100,000 state Community Legacy grant that will help pay for the project, estimated at $300,000.
"Today is really about inclusiveness," Ehrlich told the crowd on the clear, brisk afternoon. "We want to empower everybody to live every day in this state at the highest level. And that includes kids who many times in the past haven't had the same opportunities."
The project began in the spring when Leib-Keesee and other parents met with Kevin Wedding, the president of the Waldorf Jaycees Community Center, to talk about the lack of playground space in Charles County accessible to disabled children. In subsequent fundraisers, the Jaycees have raised $110,000 through poker tournaments, an ATV raffle and a dinner-dance, Wedding said. Parents are also selling engraved bricks to raise money, and the county donated the land.
Construction on the playground, sold by West Recreation of Queenstown will start within four months, and it is expected to open by late spring, said Tom Roland, the county's chief of parks and grounds. The ground will be covered with a rubberized surface for wheelchair access. The plans include having each play station linked by ramps with protective guardrails, swings with harnesses, and plastic panels that make whizzing noises when pushed.
"Some children need that extra stimulation to make them happy," Leib-Keesee said.
The county also plans to install concrete pavilions with picnic tables and barbecue grills around the playground. "It's not just a special-needs playground; it's one everyone can enjoy," Roland said.
Kathy Windsor, 50, of Waldorf hopes the playground can be a place where children learn to look past disabilities. She said she's worried about how her autistic grandson, Tyler Windsor, 10, will be treated when he leaves Eva Turner Elementary School for middle school. "I used to substitute teach, and kids can be so mean and nasty to the kids with special needs," she said.
"If all kids play together when they're young and get exposed to each other, kids with disabilities won't be looked at as such outcasts," Windsor said. "The disability will disappear."
