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player ready...The mother of a physically disabled boy says she is disappointed that a new playground in the village is not more accessible to handicapped children.
Wendy Biliskov’s son Stephen, 12, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and requires a wheelchair.
The playground, called Angel Towne, was built without ramps leading onto the structure, and though wood chips were spread out to allow children in wheelchairs to enter the playground, they cannot play on the structure because everything is a step up, Biliskov said.
“I want to give (my son) every advantage that an able-bodied child has in this community,” she said. “I am not asking to have a 100 percent accessible play structure. What I am suggesting is that our children have access to some of the same play areas that your children have.”
But Tim Stirneman, a local dentist and an organizer for the construction of the playground, said there aren’t good Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines for playgrounds right now.
The playground committee had hoped to do more with Angel Towne, Stirneman said, but it ran short of funds.
Though Biliskov doubts anything can be done at this point to make Angel Towne more wheelchair-friendly, her purpose for speaking out, she said, is to be an advocate for other disabled children in the community.