Inclusive playground in Clinton Township gets preview before ribbon-cutting

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — While Clinton Township’s new inclusive playground will not be officially open until next spring, kids and adults alike got a chance to try out the new equipment Nov. 13.

The playground offers a wide range of activities for all ages and abilities. A nature theme is present throughout with logs, a frog sculpture, a dragonfly teeter-totter and musical flowers. Standing tall at the center of the playground is a 14-foot playscape for kids 5-12 years old. The structure is enclosed to ensure safety and parts of it are accessible by wheelchair.

“The first thing I heard from almost everybody coming through the gate today is, ‘I didn’t think it was so big,’” outgoing Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon said. “I didn’t think it was so big, and I watched it being built. A lot of hard work went into it.”

Department of Public Services Director Mary Bednar and Rich Sinclair from Sinclair Recreation, the contractor that built the equipment, explained each facet of the playground.

The therapeutic fitness area is for teenagers, adults and senior citizens for physical therapy and exercising. There’s also a smaller set of structures for kids ages 2-5 and an imaginative play area. While the equipment may seem traditional, like swings and teeter-totters, each item is designed to be accessible for children with different abilities.

Signs indicating different playground areas include Braille.

Sensory elements were taken into consideration for the equipment as well. The metal slides, shaded by a canopy so they don’t heat up, were chosen to accommodate children with cochlear implants. Sinclair said the static electricity from a plastic slide can negatively affect the implant. Musical elements, ranging from drums to chimes in the nature theme, are found in many of the areas.

Incoming Township Supervisor Paul Gieleghem said the catalyst for the project was a letter from AnnMarie Ottoy. Ottoy was selected to chair the Inclusive Playground Committee because of her experience as a parent to a disabled child. She said the playscape creates awareness, connection and community for a population that is often “invisible and unheard.”

“At least that’s the way my family felt a lot of the time when my son was growing up, Zachary, who has disabilities,” Ottoy said.

Ottoy said she was “in awe” of the community that’s already emerging from starting the project, ranging from parents and families to government agencies and schools.

“My greatest hope is that this playground helps those seeds of awareness that grow into acceptance, understanding and friendships that last a lifetime,” she said. “That no one feels invisible and when we see one another we recognize the intrinsic value that is in each and every one of us.”