Handicapped Accessible Playground eCYBERMISSION Project
With a photo story at the end

For the eCYBERMISSION problem solving competition, we wanted to get handicapped-accessible playground equipment in our town so that the handicapped children in our area felt more like a part of the community. We also needed to make the community more aware of what the disabled kids were going through. We wanted to bring our citizens together by getting handicapped accessible equipment.

At first we wanted to get playground equipment for our school. It wasn't until we thought about the fact that handicapped children had NO equipment at all that we realized that if we get equipment for disabled children, we will feel more successful than if we got equipment for our school.

The kids in our community are the ones who will benefit the most from our efforts because kids of all ages and abilities will get to play together and possibly make new friends. Adults in our community will be reassured that everyone can play together no matter what their size, age, color, or abilities. In fact, the whole community will benefit because it can come together and work together to make Hiawatha a wonderful place to live.

For background research, we attended an EASE meeting which is a support group for families with people who have disabilities. We found out that their children felt left out because they couldn't play with the other kids who could easily climb up a horseshoe ladder or steep, narrow stairs. Their kids just simply wanted to play. Because of this, they became great supporters of our cause. We also learned that swings were what the EASE parents were most interested in getting for Hiawatha. They believed that swings calm and soothe their children. They mentioned that their kids are very sensitive to light so they would like a shade structure. We found out what equipment would be best for disabled kids by looking on the Internet and playground supply catalogues. We also talked with some of the special education teachers of our school district to find out what kind of equipment they would suggest. Another great help was when Dr. Arnett came to our class to teach us how to write valid surveys. He taught us to use two opposite questions as lie detector questions for people who don’t bother to read the survey.

Our first hypothesis from about a year and a half ago stated the following: If we enter the Boundless Playground contest by writing an essay about our need for handicapped accessible equipment, then we will be awarded the $300,000 playground because there is no handicapped accessible equipment within fifty miles of Hiawatha. We made finals in the contest but did not win, so we donated the toys awarded for being finalists to the special education classrooms in our schools. We also decided that since the community was so supportive of us and of our ideas, we would keep trying by continuing the project on our own with the help and support of the community. This led to a second hypothesis stating that if we work very hard, then we can still get handicapped accessible equipment because the community is so supportive of our goals. A third hypothesis said that if we get playground equipment for the disabled, then the families of handicapped people and the rest of our community will feel closer because the community will see that they can come together, make new friends, and achieve something important. Our final hypothesis stated that if we survey people in person rather than over the Internet, then we will get more favorable answers because people will not want to disappoint us.

Our second hypothesis turned out to be true. We raised funds and got three swings for our community; one at the elementary school, one at Starr Park, and one at the city lake playground. The city got involved and wrote a grant which we helped research. They are going to replace the sand, a terrible surface for wheelchairs, at the Kiddie Korral with recycled shredded rubber tires, an ADA approved surface. Because they heard about our project, the Kiwanis asked our advice about buying new handicapped-accessible equipment for the Kiddie Korral. They are now in the process of buying the piece of equipment with shade that we recommended.

When we did the surveys, most results were positive. Some surveys had to be thrown out because of the lie detector questions we put in. The surveys were marked straight down so the people marked the lie detector questions the same. Seventy-five percent of the responses that we got from the people with a handicapped person in their family either agreed or strongly agreed that they feel closer to the community because of the new equipment. Of all the families, only one survey out of seventy-one disagreed that the community had grown closer. For our last hypothesis, we found out that there is a difference in the results of a survey done in person and on the Internet. On the Internet, people answer more truthfully, which means they're not afraid to be negative in their answers. In person, they answer more favorably, which means they may sometimes hide their true feelings. On the Internet, only 7.1 percent of families without handicapped people strongly agreed that the community cared about its citizens while in person, 38.1 percent strongly agreed the community cared about its citizens. The same percentages strongly agreed that the community had grown closer.

This project taught us many things. We learned how to present to different groups like the city commission, the Lions Club, EASE, the school board, and the Kiwanis. It also taught us that age doesn't matter when it comes to helping others. Even though we are only seventh graders, we bought three swings, and we helped to get new surfacing, new handicapped-accessible equipment, and shade for the Kiddie Korral.

Photo Story of Project