Leadership Greater Nashua class to build universally accessible playground

NASHUA – The Leadership Greater Nashua class of 2012 revealed its community project at its graduation ceremony recently. The project is the construction of a universally accessible playground to be built at a Nashua park. Universally accessible playgrounds offer children and adults of all abilities a place to play, learn and develop. They have the flexibility to accommodate an array of individual abilities and opportunities for comfortable use by maximizing size and space for all regardless of mobility level. About 9.1 percent of New Hampshire’s population live with a disability and, according to 2000 U.S. census figures, 16.4 percent of the Nashua population have some form of disability. Nashua has just one playground classified as handicapped accessible – Roby Park – and only the Nashua River Trail is wheelchair accessible. Although both areas are considered accessible and meet ADA standards, they don’t meet all of the needs of most individuals in Greater Nashua. “Our family enjoys spending time doing things outdoors, but as my son has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to take him out of his wheelchair,” said Eric Brand, a Leadership Greater Nashua participant and Legacy Playground project leader. “This makes it very challenging to engage in outdoor activities such as using playgrounds together as a family. “An accessible playground would enable not just my wife and I, but our other children, as well, to interact with our son as they would with any other typical child while simply at play.” With a price tag of about $250,000, the Leadership members have begun fundraising.