CHENNAI: The sensory park for children with disabilities, which was proposed near the State Resource Centre in Santhome, has been finalised under the Smart City Mission, said a senior Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) official.
To be built at a cost of `1.3 crore, the park is designed keeping children with disabilities in mind. It is fully accessible by wheelchair and also has a specially designed, yet simple equipment to stimulate sensory development of these children.
“Children with disabilities are not a homogeneous group. What we have looked to achieve here is to enable them to have fun and experience joy, because they are usually always in an environment of learning or therapy,” said Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, managing trustee of Kilikili, a trust formed by parents of children with special needs, who has worked in association with the GCC in designing the park.
Though referred to as a ‘special park’, it focuses on inclusive play, allowing children with or without special needs to participate, interacting with each other, said Kavitha.
While the park looks to enhance the experiences of children with disabilities, many of the equipment designed for the park had only slight modifications made to regular play equipment, yet achieving what it sets out to. “For instance, for children with developmental delays like those who cannot crawl, the park will have a tyre tunnel in the sand, to help them learn,” she said.
Another instance of simple yet beneficial play equipment design would be that one of the two sets of slides is to have raised edges for children who are scared of using the regular slide. Sensory parks are already functional in cities like Bangalore and Ahmedabad. A ‘traffic park’ near Anna memorial has also been planned under the Smart City Mission to help children learn traffic rules and road safety practices.