“WE WANT TO PLAY TOO!” CAMPAIGN was a study and proposal of disability-friendly and accessible park playgrounds in Harrow, based on an inspirational approach taken by the Hammersmith and Fulham parent carer forum called Parents Active. The survey of their parents’ needs led to partnership working with various agencies that resulted in two major subsequent developments which have since been recognised as good practice in SEN provision.
Their survey of the facilities and the needs of their families resulted in 2 objectives for their campaign:
- Improved facilities in parks in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
- A purpose-built disabled short breaks centre
Parents Active carried out a survey in May 2013 to gather information on play and parks. The main purpose of this survey was to follow up on our report in 2011 “We want to Play too” which highlighted parental expectations of what Play and Parks mean to their disabled child. The report was widely distributed to key professionals and also made its way to the London Mayor’s office. The purpose of this survey and the report is to judge the progress made since then, to find out if respite is really adequate, what are the parental expectations of the proposed disabled children’s centre and whether they continue to enjoy the facilities in parks.
Hayley Wedgbury (and her daughter Mia), is a member of the parent carer forum in Hammersmith and Fulham. Her desire to find a suitable play area for Mia was the driving force behind the campaign. They raised funding from various sources and funded installation of various disability-friendly play equipment in several parks in Hammersmith and Fulham, including the Ravenscourt Park playground.
To find out more about the details of their report and what they achieved, please visit the Parents Active website: http://www.parentsactive.org.uk/we_want_to_play_2013