The Liberty Swing makes the classic heart-fluttering feeling of a playground swing available to those with disabilities as well...it accommodates all sorts of wheelchairs and also has a fold-down seat and seatbelt for users who are not in a wheelchair. Since it can take up to 550 pounds, adults can use it too.
At the Liberty Swing website you can see a list of all of the swings that are installed and there seem to be only about twelve in the United States...there should be more!
A great piece of equipment to provide a swing experience to those that can't obtain it any other way. However beware! The management regimes imposed for these swings can sometimes outweigh the benefits in public playgrounds. e.g. a fence is installed and signs on acceptable use put up, sometimes lockable gates are used and adult supervision required. All of a sudden you have a bunch of fully able kids hanging onto the fence looking in at this one kid in a wheelchair on the swing. Great for stigmitisation. Not so good for truley inclusive play. Just make sure you think about how this swing suit your needs.
ReplyDeleteAll the best .
Walter, Perth Western Australia
Hi Walter! I'm glad you commented; as I looked at images of the swing I was concerned about just these issues. I never like fences on playgrounds, and the swing can easily seem a display piece. But I don't see a better alternative at this time for providing such a unique and fun experience? We can hope for better designs in the future! Also, many of these seem to be installed at therapeutic centers that cater to the disabled where perhaps the experience of stigmitisation would be less. Thanks for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThese swings are in parks and playgrounds all over Australia. The small town/city of 40,000 that I live in has at least 2 of them that I know about, one which is located at a fully wheel chair access playground. The lions club in australia has spent a lot of time fund raising to have these swings installed in many places. The fence is a an issue but the swings are large and heavy and the is no other safe way to use them. I have seen then used by a child in a wheel chair and another child at the same time, it looked like great fun
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