Where do disabled children play?

Bangalore might boast of being the ‘Garden City’ of this country with its many parks and gardens. But where’s the question of pride when there are very few parks that are friendly to disabled children?

The problems are many for disabled children who seek access to parks. Since some gates have cattle traps, children on crutches or wheelchairs can get stuck in the gaps. Inconvenience can also be caused because the walkways are not always levelled properly and the tiles are loose or missing.

For the visually impaired, trees and poles can come in their way and there is a lack of signages or markers to warn them of possible obstruction. 

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) website has listed a total of 938 parks in the City. When some parents raised the question of why there were no disabled children in the City’s parks, an organisation called Kili Kili took on the responsibility of making this a reality. “We designed equipment that would be friendly to disabled children and approached the authorities to create an inclusive playground for such children.

We made a safe swing, which looks like a big diaper, to make them feel safe. There are slides with raised sides to give support while coming down in case they are scared. There are tyre tunnels embedded in sand, which stimulates crawling in children for whom it does not happen naturally. Basically, there are some equipment to meet development needs and some to meet physical needs,” shares Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, managing trustee, Kili Kili.

While the set up is great, Kavitha informs that this has been carried out in three parks in the City — Gayatri Devi Park in Rajajinagar, K N Rao Park in Basavanagudi and Coles Park in Fraser Town. With Coles Park, the equipment has been rendered almost unusable due to poor maintenance, which is one of the biggest challenges in this endeavour.
Says Kavitha, “The government waits for three to four years for the equipment to run its course and then, the whole process has to be started all over again. It should be maintained on an ongoing basis.”

Another challenge faced by such organisations is that the BBMP still sees these as special projects that it may consider only if approached. “It should be just as institutional as planting trees,” she adds.

Parents of children with disabilities acknowledge the value of such inclusive parks. “When my daughter started going to Coles Park, she only used the swing. Slowly, she started using the tyre tube and then the sandpit and eventually, the slide.

Our neighbour’s children also started visiting the park and would take her along in the group swings,” recalls Priya Kannan, whose eight-year-old daughter is a patient of the autism spectrum. “Every child has the right to enjoy parks. This is just another mode of including children with disabilities into society,” she says.

K V Rajanna, commissioner for disabilities, is convinced that change is on its way. “We have sent letters to the BBMP and sports department to create a disabled-friendly environment in parks.

On our part, we have also formed an access audit team to visit the parks and issue notices to the authorities about the ones that are not made inclusive. The government will take action shortly,” wraps up Rajanna.

The seeds of change have been planted. But a lot more needs to be done for the disabled community of the City.