Greensboro Plan2Play Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2019

150 - FEBRUARY 2019

#9 CONNECT Make Greensboro Accessible Accessible and inclusive Recreation, championed in the Department by Adaptive & Inclusive (AIR) Section, gives people with disabilities the same opportunity to participate in recreational activities. Demand for inclusion recreation services is increasing across the country. The United States Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a series of recommendations for “increasing the inclusion of infants, toddlers, and preschool children with disabilities in high- quality early childhood programs.” This joint report acknowledged that over half of preschool-aged children with disabilities receive special education services in separate settings from their peers without disabilities. However, research has shown that high quality learning should be proportionally provided for all people, regardless of ability.

Action 9a. Make improvements to enable universal access to all parks, facilities and programs. Expand Universal Design - Universal design is the practice of making places, amenities and buildings that are accessible to all, including older people, and people with disabilities. There are a number of ways improvements to access can be made for Greensboro residents with disabilities: • All future basic upgrades to parks and facilities in the city need to incorporate universal accessibility into those improvements to ensure equitable distribution of services for all residents and visitors. • AIR should further its partnerships with organizations in the area that advocate for people with disabilities to pro- actively market these programs to the community. • The Department should establish priorities for accessible service delivery for children, adults and veterans with physical and developmental disabilities throughout its facilities, parks and trails.

As demand for these programs increases, federal funding has also increased. Still, the expansion of programming for persons with disabilities remains disproportionately provided at the state and county levels.

Although Greensboro is already pro-actively engaged with partner

organizations, like the Special Olympics, and has implemented a number of inclusive recreation programs and amenities, like the sensory wall in LeBauer Park, Woven Works Park along the Downtown Greenway, kayak launch on Lake Higgins, and Camp Joy, there are many more opportunities for the city to help build a culture of inclusion.