Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities opens new inclusive playground

Children laughed as they were pushed by their parents on swings and were helped up and down slides at Toledo’s newest inclusive playground for clients of a local organization that assists residents who have disabilities.

Toledo resident Miranda Darr, who was pushing her 2-year-old son on one of the swings, was among several parents who played with their children on a sunny, nearly cloudless day at the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ new inclusive playground at its office building in South Toledo on Thursday.

“This is great,” Ms. Darr said. “He loves being outside. It’s nice to see other kiddos that go through the same thing.”

Other parents like Eric and Jessica Harder, who live in Holland, sat on a bench while watching their toddler drive a toy car and play with the other children.

“This is amazing,” Mrs. Harder said. “It’s all fenced in so you don’t have to worry about the kids running off on you and escaping. Our little guy likes to escape.”

“And on nice days like today, instead of being stuck inside doing the enrichment and development and that kind of stuff, they can come out here and play and have fun and enjoy the beautiful weather,” Mr. Harder added.

Michele Myerholtz, superintendent for the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said the playground is an expansion of the board’s playgroup program, which gives children and their parents a space to interact.

“The playground will really help our developmental specialists be able to work with kids in a much more expanded way,” Ms. Myerholtz said. “They will be able to come out here and do some things with kids that we’re not able to do indoors.”

The project took about a year to come to fruition, with the playground being designed by agency staff, she said.

The new playground features a solid rubber surface, which is designed for children in wheelchairs as well as others who have trouble walking, adaptive swings, slides, and an outdoor track for tricycles and other wheeled toys.

All of the equipment has elements designed for all children to be able to participate, no matter their skills or abilities, Ms. Myerholtz said.

“The main purpose is for the children to have opportunities to interact with other children, to help them have different experiences with play,” she said.