Groups seek to improve Schlanger Park
Sara Wade
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Front Page
Pittsburg's Schlanger Park is on its way to being renovated to make it more accessible to children with disabilities.
"What we're doing is we're trying to come in and see what the highest percent of disability is in this area," Donna Bogner, president of Credible Arts Therapies, said. "Right now we're seeing that the highest percent in disabilities come under autism, then it goes into attention deficit, and into Down's syndrome. Those require sensory-stimulation equipment, not just equipment that might be muscle building and things like that. There's going to be a broad spectrum depending on what the need is."
The concept came from a family in California who had a handicapped son who died. The project is called Shane's Inspiration.
"The project is focused around what they call universally accessible playgrounds," Bogner said. "The nice thing is it allows an able-bodied child to interact with a disabled child on the playground."
Bogner says that the renovations are a first for her organization and will add conscience and a multicultural aspect.
"We're hoping the entire project is a model project that can be taken other places even outside the state," she said. "There's none really right now in the four-state area that complements this idea, so we'll be founders, I guess. Eventually we hope to expand on the basic project into doing more for senior citizens."
Chuck Killingsworth, vice president of Credible Arts Therapies, attended a national recreation conference in Washington, which is where he got the idea of changing the park.
"The speaker was a lady who was associated with Shane's Inspiration," Bogner said. "That lit a little light, and when Dr. Killingsworth got back, we talked about it and thought maybe something like this could fly in this area. And of course for it to happen you had to have a nonprofit organization to make it happen. We got a group of interested people together and it just kind of mushroomed from that point."
"What we're doing is we're trying to come in and see what the highest percent of disability is in this area," Donna Bogner, president of Credible Arts Therapies, said. "Right now we're seeing that the highest percent in disabilities come under autism, then it goes into attention deficit, and into Down's syndrome. Those require sensory-stimulation equipment, not just equipment that might be muscle building and things like that. There's going to be a broad spectrum depending on what the need is."
The concept came from a family in California who had a handicapped son who died. The project is called Shane's Inspiration.
"The project is focused around what they call universally accessible playgrounds," Bogner said. "The nice thing is it allows an able-bodied child to interact with a disabled child on the playground."
Bogner says that the renovations are a first for her organization and will add conscience and a multicultural aspect.
"We're hoping the entire project is a model project that can be taken other places even outside the state," she said. "There's none really right now in the four-state area that complements this idea, so we'll be founders, I guess. Eventually we hope to expand on the basic project into doing more for senior citizens."
Chuck Killingsworth, vice president of Credible Arts Therapies, attended a national recreation conference in Washington, which is where he got the idea of changing the park.
"The speaker was a lady who was associated with Shane's Inspiration," Bogner said. "That lit a little light, and when Dr. Killingsworth got back, we talked about it and thought maybe something like this could fly in this area. And of course for it to happen you had to have a nonprofit organization to make it happen. We got a group of interested people together and it just kind of mushroomed from that point."
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