Bill Text: HI SR148 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Americans with Disabilities Act; Visually Impaired Children; Playground
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-07 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06-07-13. [SR148 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2013-SR148-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.R. NO. |
148 |
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TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE RESOLUTION
encouraging the department of parks and recreation, city and county of honolulu, to seriously consider the establishment of an accessible public playground THAT ALLOWS visually impaired children to freely EXPLORE THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND interact with their families and friends in a safe, WELCOMING, and developmentally enriching environment.
WHEREAS, for over one hundred years Americans have recognized the physical, emotional, and cognitive benefits of a well-equipped playground; and
WHEREAS, the concept of "playgrounds" as dedicated sites and structures where children may safely grow to understand the meaning of cooperation emerged in industrial Europe, where public streets had become too dangerous, and most backyards too small, to accommodate the vigorous games children use to expend energy and develop skills; and
WHEREAS, after German primary schools pioneered a playground system, Manchester, England, opened the first public playground in 1959, and America dedicated its first public playground in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in 1887; and
WHEREAS, the social skills children develop through free and spontaneous play of the sort that occurs on playgrounds create lifelong skill sets carried forward into adulthood, rendering playgrounds among the most formative environments for child development outside the home; and
WHEREAS, as a child navigates the physical and social environment, learning to climb, swing, balance, and communicate with minimal supervisory interference, physical mastery and self-development allow confidence to emerge; and
WHEREAS, research repeatedly confirms that physical activity during childhood produces health benefits with lifelong ramifications including reduced risk of psychological problems, ameliorated disease risk factors, weight optimization, the attainment of peak bone mass, and enhanced self-esteem to a degree determined by quality of play; and
WHEREAS, in 2011 approximately 60,000 children under the age of eighteen were categorized as legally blind, and an additional 460,000 suffer from severe vision difficulties; and
WHEREAS, "legally blind" is defined as visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the best eye and a visual field no better than twenty degrees, and "vision difficulty" is defined as serious trouble seeing even when wearing optical corrective devices, according to the Annual Report from the American Printing House for the Blind; and
WHEREAS, in Hawaii specifically, 1.2 percent of the population is currently eligible for Blind and Disabled Supplemental Security Income as of 2013; and
WHEREAS, to safely play at a fundamental level of independence, blind children require playground design accommodations such as ramps, detectable warning tiles, rubber surfaces, bucket swing seats, railings, crawl tubes, and entertaining ground features; and
WHEREAS, each year emergency departments in the United States treat over 200,000 children under the age of fourteen for playground-related injuries, and seventy-six percent of those injuries occurred in public parks; and
WHEREAS, the Consumer Product Safety Commission investigated one hundred forty-seven playground-related deaths between 1990 and 2000, and forty such deaths from 2001 to 2008; and
WHEREAS, medical costs of playground injuries to children fourteen and younger exceed $2,000,000,000 annually; and
WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title III, was passed in 1990, stating that no individual may be discriminated against upon the basis of disability with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation, and this measure took effect in July of 1992, from that time forward requiring the compliance of all newly constructed public facilities; and
WHEREAS, a truly inclusive playground ensures that children of multiple abilities can play together, not simply alongside one another; and
WHEREAS, progressive recreation managers realize that playgrounds must offer more than the bare minimum requirements set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which merely allow wheelchairs to reach play equipment or provide disabled children a single accessible swing per set; on the contrary, an inclusive playground ensures that all children, regardless of ability, can develop a sense of mastery and involvement across the total environment; and
WHEREAS, while the benefits of inclusive playgrounds to blind children are obvious, sighted children also gain from interacting with their visually-impaired peers, for inclusive play teaches young people about challenges and lifestyles unlike their own, thus allowing sighted children to grow into more informed, compassionate members of their broader communities; and
WHEREAS, not one county throughout Hawaii currently provides its public with a playground inclusive to the blind community specifically or to the disabled community in general; and
WHEREAS, nearly every other state and territory in the nation has designed, or has made plans to design, at least one inclusive playground for some segment of the disabled community; and
WHEREAS, only six other states – Alaska, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming, likewise fail to offer a single dedicated playground to disabled children; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that the City and County of Honolulu is urged to seriously consider the establishment of an accessible public playground that allows visually impaired children to freely explore their environment and interact with their families and friends in a safe, welcoming, and developmentally enriching environment; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Department of Accounting and General Services, Honolulu City Council, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, and Honolulu City Clerk.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Department of Parks and Recreation; Americans with Disabilities Act; Visually Impaired Children; Playground
