In Feb 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) commissioned ICE to produce a good practice guide on accessible play space. The guide gives advice which can be tailored to individual settings on developing accessible play space disabled children can use.

Where children play in their local communities, and how they can be support to play safely in public spaces, is of concern to all children and young people as well as to Government and parents. Improving access to public play space for disabled children and other groups who currently under use them is central to the development of sustainable and inclusive communities.

The research aimed to assess current advice to providers, relevant policies and initiatives, as well as legislative and regulatory frameworks regarding the provision of play spaces for disabled children.

The approach was based on the social model of disability that focuses on the barriers encountered by people viewed as having impairments. Play space providers were encouraged to focus on dismantling barriers that create segregation, exclusion and disablement rather than worrying about the complexities of impairment.

Research was undertaken by:

Outdoor play is crucial to children’s development, health and well-being; good play space allows all children to play together with wider benefits for social inclusion and community building; more policy needs to be developed.

The main barriers to developing accessible, open public play space are: lack of funding, staff resources and understanding of what disabled children want and are entitled to.

Issues include:

Findings showed that good practice emerges where disabled children and their families are seen as full citizens.

ODPM
Analytical services department (Research and statistics)

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/01/2004

Karen Dunn, Michele Moore, Pippa Murray from ICE

research

Urban Policy

Urban environment, Transport and infrastructure