Kids with Disabilities are Helping Design Inclusive Playgrounds

For a few minutes on a recent glorious morning, 13-year-old John Buettner was a little kid again. Actually, as he sprawled upon the netting of an inclusive playground near Hastings that he’d helped design, he admitted that now is even better.

Born with cerebral palsy and relegated to the sidelines for much of his childhood, John helps a local company create spaces where other disabled kids can play.

“It feels amazing to be able to say, ‘I was a part of it all,’” John said of work that began two years ago at Glen Lake Elementary School in Minnetonka.

So, how does a kid get a gig trying out the accessibility of playground equipment? Living through years of being left out, it seems.

When teachers and students at Glen Lake started talking about replacing their old playground, someone in another class noticed a group of kids in wheelchairs “just kind of sitting on the sideline,” John said.

Most playgrounds aren’t wheelchair-friendly. So the teacher asked her students what they thought about replacing their non-accessible playground.

“Her kids said they wanted to do something about it,” John said.

That included asking John, who had lots of experience watching other kids play, for his input. “I got roped into it,” he said.