"Let Owen Play" Part 2 - The Response

Just a quick post to give you all an update with regards to my last post "Let Owen Play"

After writing my last post "Let Owen Play"  I decided it would be good to share, tweet and email to anybody and everybody I deemed influential, helpful or interested.  I am very happy to report it had a big response from fellow campaigners, local people and organisations. Feedback given was, they all supported the need all for a more Inclusive play park.

The big news is I am feeling rather more positive after being in touch with The Section Head / Parks, Open Spaces and Projects at Watford Council.

I felt he has really took on board what I had to say.  He really looked in detail to all the points I had made. He then came up with a number of suggestions regarding Inclusive Play in Watford.

• It has been agreed to look at my Local Park and to install a more suitable Swing Seat in place of one of many standard seats. Also to take a look at the Wheelchair Roundabout that I reported was a little slow and hard to push.

• In the Cassiobury Cha Cha Cha café, they will now make small scale improvements, such as Chimes and Sound Tubes. These small improvements will be all inclusive and can be shared also with a sibling.

      These small changes would lend themselves to make this
      Garden/Park more of a great little Sensory type Garden.

• Down at the Main Park by the pools hopefully more dramatic changes will take place. The Main Park is where the Pools are being refurbished and where the Changing Places toilet facilities will be built as part of the new Hub building.

      I was told....

      "... There may be an opportunity to refresh the play area
      here and seek funding to expand the offer here. This
      could include a wheelchair swing unit here..."

So all in all I think that was a good first response. I will obviously be keeping a close eye on things to make sure these things happen. I will continue to blog the progress of this and I am ready to fight if things do not happen, but for now I just have to wait and see.

I just want to end by thanking everyone for all their support .

Thank You

Let Owen Play

 

As a family we are always looking at ways to make sure Owen is fully included in every day family life as possible.  We are just like any other 'normal'  family (hate the word Normal... whose normal anyway) We love Family days out together, Be it to The Zoo, Seaside or just to one of our Local Parks.

I have always felt lucky living in Watford. Our parks were always of such a high standard. My children have had so much fun in many of them. As a Mother of four I have spent more hours than I would like to think about in Parks. 

Owen is a massive Thrill seeker, his favourite piece of equipment (Out of two which he can go on) at our local park is the Nest Swing. You should hear his squeals of delight mixed with his proper belly laugh. He loves to go very High and very fast.
 The unfortunate thing is, that this is very popular piece of equipment, especially with the older children, that once he has had his 'go' There is not much else for Owen to do.


Cassiobury Park in the heart of Watford played a big part of my childhood. I am so glad that it has become a big part of all of my children's childhoods too.As you may or may not be aware, Cassiobury park is currently undergoing a big £6.5million restoration project. 

The project includes;
*Renovating the lovely Cha Cha Cha Café, We have lots of lovely times here. I fondly remember bringing Lilly each week here for her Hartbeeps Music and Movement Class. Also who doesn't love a Latte while watching there kids play.

*Moving a bandstand from the top of town back to it original position in the park.

* Renovating the Paddling Pools and building a great big Hub Building which now will include a Changing Places Toilet. (This itself was in the balance at one point due to costs, but now after a lot of forwards and backwards tweets and emails and phone calls I have been assured this will definitely be going ahead.)


I have been asking Watford Borough Council for many months now if they have any plans to make Watford Parks Fully Inclusive? They responded by saying that ALL Watford Parks are already Fully Accessible.

Let me just mention that Fully Accessible and Fully Inclusive are two totally different things.

Fully Accessible playground means that all parts of the play space can be reached or entered into. For example the playground surface should be one that a wheelchair or walker can move on. 
What this means for us is I can push Owen easily around the park.
Wow what fun to be had, being pushed around watching all the other children have fun and play.

A Fully Inclusive playground takes in account not only physical equipment but incorporates the emotional and social benefits of play. These types of playgrounds take into account children with physical disabilities as well as learning or developmental disabilities.  In additional to accessible floor surfaces you may find Accessible Swings, Wheelchair Swings, Play Panels, Sensory Walls, and Sensory Gardens


According to Landscape Structures, a leading manufacture of inclusive playground equipment,

 an inclusive playground "... can offer many opportunities for children to further develop physical, cognitive, sensory and social skills. An Inclusive design includes a balance of play experiences to build all these skills."

So you can see why I believe a Fully Inclusive Playground is much more important than just being accessible.


I just wish Watford Borough Council were on board with this idea.

This week there has been,  

The Green They are planning to build a builders yard on.

*Protests over the Council closing two supervised Adventure Playgrounds (which act like a youth club for many older children and young teens.)
* Planning permission has been agreed to put a builders yard on the Green by my house.
*Farm Terrance Allotment holders whose fight went all the way to the High Court to save their beloved Allotments got served their eviction notices after losing their last battle with the council.
 

Things personally for us took a turn for the worse this week when we all decided to take a walk down to Cassiobury Park, while Beth was at her dance Class. We was keen to see the progress and to mainly enjoy a lovely walk during a very rare, warm, dry day.

As we reached the Cha Cha Cha Café, at first glance I didn't see it.  Even though it is not finished, I thought How 'beautiful' the new Café garden looked. We continued to walk around the fenced off area and my heart sunk. 

Owen's 1st time on a Swing

Previously just behind the Café was a park. This park hadn't really changed that much in years, but was a particular favourite among those with toddlers and younger children.

*It had two great apparatus with slides, one in the shape of a fire engine which you could pretend to drive. 
*A little playhouse.  
* Baby swings - With the aid of a special adapted seat from Firefly called the GoTo seat Owen was able to enjoy his first  swing. I remember it greatly, such a milestone. Such a special moment to see both the Twins swinging together.
Unfortunately Owen is too big to use the GoTo seat on baby swings. I had a trickly moment a while back when Owen went into full body extenstion and I nearly couldn't get him out. This is so sad and he really did love the swing. Just look at that little face.

Owen also loved the Wheelchair Roundabout,  The musical play panels and the Microphones where you could call down to the other person waiting at the second one at the opposite end of the park.
But all this was now GONE!!!

Instead stood a little Wooden Obstacle Course and Standard swings.  There was also a sandpit, Owen loves Sand Play but could not access this.

I was so upset,  I couldn't see anything Owen could play with or on. 
 As the girls ate their snacks (also something else Owen can not join in with) I sent an array of tweets and emails.
 I still haven't had any replies regarding this. My Tweets and Emails continue to go on ignored just like my Sons needs to play do.

At the moment I have no idea if whether or not this is it? Will more equipment that my Son and others like come?

All I want them to do is show that Owen is welcome. Owen deserves the same chances and opportunities as any other child.

All Owen want is to do what other four year olds do... and that's PLAY!!!

My Guest Blog for My Changing Place

Guest Blog

Let It Go!

Written by mychangingplace on June 21st, 2016June 21st, 2016. 0 Comments
                    

https://www.facebook.com/mychangingplace/photos/a.1032479136806304.1073741827.1032477613473123/1060623327325218/?type=3     

As part of Learning Disability Week one of our fellow campaigners Sheri Skelton gives an insight into just how inclusive a Changing Place facility can be.  Many people understand the need for Changing Places facilities for people with severe disabilities.  But what of the other groups who may benefit from the use of these facilities.   


As many of you are already aware, my main drive behind my persistence for change regarding toilet facilities is my nearly 4 year old son Owen.


Owen’s Cerebral Palsy means he is unable to potty train like his twin sister Florence. He is currently getting on the big side for using Baby Changing facilities and the future we face, without such facilities as Changing Places is to change him on the toilet Floor.

Florence has no medical diagnosis, but has some Developmental Delays, Learning Delays and Sensory difficulties. She is under a Paediatrician for these, but at the moment it is a case of wait and see. Florence also sees a Speech and Language Therapist and is supported at Nursery.

Florence is ‘almost’ fully toilet train during the day. It wasn’t plain sailing and is all very new.
One of the major hurdles was she had a major fear of ‘letting go’.
We tried everything.. bribes, sticker charts even changing some of the words to the Frozen song “Let it Go”. Despite pressure from Nursery I just knew Florence wasn’t the sort of girl that can be pushed. Eventually we had the break through. One time she was so bursting as I suggested sitting on the potty she forgot herself and ‘Let Go’.
Thanks to her YouTube obsession with ‘Surprise Egg Opening’ Videos we managed to encourage her to keep going with the promise of Kinder Eggs. Gradually we replaced eggs with stickers.

For my Husbands recent Birthday we took a family day out to Brighton. We decided to keep her nappy on to save accidents while travelling. (although on this trip we discovered Florence gets travel sick)

We arrived and started walking towards the beach past the Pier. Florence announced she needed the toilet. I knew there was a toilet on the Pier (admittedly I had forgotten how far down it was) so I dumped the picnic basket and other bags by my husbands feet grabbing Florence in one hand, My eight year old Lilly in the other (as she decided she needed to go too) and hurried through the crowds towards the toilets.

Lilly was now bursting, so went into a cubicle. I told her not to lock it as I would be outside. It was then obvious, most likely due to her earlier upset tummy, a toilet cubicle wasn’t an option for Florence.
We were then met with her first Nemesis The fold down Baby Changing Table. “Its wobbling…. I falling” she screamed. Florence has a masters degree in tantrums and decided to show her skills while 3ft in the air.
I simultaneously tried to calm her, clean up the ‘poo explosion’ which meant a full changed of outfit and keep an eye on Lilly’s toilet door.
Florence calmed down just enough to hear the flush of someone else’s toilet. “its loud it loud”. I managed to calm her once again.

Lilly had finished and I was just about to put Florence shoes back on, Then it happened… The arch enemy of the public toilet, The ‘Automatic Hand Dryer’. (I generally plea with people not to use it while we are in public toilets till we leave, but with all the drama I hadn’t a chance). I scooped up a petrified screaming Florence and her shoes, then found a bench outside.

It was then sitting on the bench, holding Florence tightly as she muttered incoherent words between sobs. I had a thought, “What if we had used a Changing Places Toilet?”
That whole meltdown could have been avoided.
A Changing Places Toilet would have had a big adult sized bench, No risk of her falling off. There would of been no unexpected flushing of toilets. No ridiculously loud automatic hand dryers. Lilly could have been doing her business without me worrying if she was going to be locked in or walked in on by a stranger.

I can not be the only family who would benefit from a toilet facility like this. What about others whose families members with such sensory issues or have a learning disability?

Mencap – The Voice of Learning Disability say;

“There are around 250,000 people in the country whose basic needs are not being met by standard accessible toilets”

“Standard toilets do not meet the need of the thousands of people including 40,000 people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)”


I thought of a friend of mine whose boy has Autism. Before he was toilet trained at aged 7 she had change him on toilet floors. Now he is toilet trained she still has trouble when out and about as he hates public toilets. She describes public toilets as “Sensory Overdrive Hell”. Others can find the openness and overcrowding of public toilets distressing. The noises and smells can also be overwhelming. My friend often uses disabled toilets with her son. But feels that because his disability isn’t of the physical type many people pass judgements. She feels like a cheat. She also has had negative comments from strangers regarding this.

But what if…

The only option wasn’t either Standard Disabled Toilets (to suit some disabilities) or Baby Changing Facilities? (for well just Babies)
What if their was toilet facilities that could suit every bodies toileting needs?
What if toilets such as Changing Places and Spaces to Change were not only seen as an expensive, excessive, elective addition, But as the standard.

A Fully Inclusive Toilet could be used by those with Physical Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, Parents with toddlers, Elderly people the list is endless.
In addition if places wanted to add further toileting facilities as a plus i.e. Baby changing rooms, Baby feeding rooms, Basic Disabled toilet they could do.
Fully Accessible toilets should be the new standard.

Shouldn’t this be what  everyone is aiming for?