New Davis Park Makes It Easy For Children To Play Without Limitations
DAVIS (CBS13) — A new park ready to open in Davis is making it easier for children to play without limitations.
Most playground structures are difficult to use if you are a child with special needs.
But Central Park in Davis is designed to make it easier for children like Anthony Burnett to play.
His first trip to the park on Tuesday was also the first time the 9-year-old with cerebral palsy felt confident to go down the slide alone.
"It's awesome and it's fun," he said.
It's not possible at most playgrounds, but at the city's new park, the ramps are wide enough for wheelchairs and long enough to allow kids like Anthony to walk up to the top.
"Usually I'm right behind him or one of his siblings are having to make sure he's safe and I feel like I can give him a lot of space here," his mom Andrea Burnett said.
Davis used developer fees and grant funds to build what has become a park made for everyone.
"We decided when we upgraded the playground facility to make it universally accessible kids in wheelchairs, parents in wheelchairs and everyone else," said Bob Bowen with the city of Davis.
Christine Hildebrand didn't notice the extra-wide seesaw or the rubber surface built for special-needs children.
"I didn't even realize that was the goal here, so yeah it's pretty much all inclusive which is nice," she said.
Andrea Burnett feels a sense of relief coming to Central Park, saying she's finally able to let her son play like his brothers and sisters.
"He can have fun on the same structures as his siblings and do all of those things he hasn't been able to do before," she said.
The city hopes to have an official grand opening on Thursday, and that this park will become a model for future playgrounds in the region.