* Our Terabithia *

Monday, March 23, 2009

Our Critique And Advocacy

Our Targetted group is disabled

children.

We feel that these playgrounds have points to comment and criticize.The first playground have railings which is good for disabled children as railings support them.But,the gaps between each railing is very small.Those who have hands and legs might get stuck in between the gaps. Likewise, the other two playgrounds also have this problems.The second playground have very few railings,and the height from the ground,could cause serious injury.Except for the second playground,the first and third playground does not have any shelther.This would make little children to sweat easily and those childrens who are handicapped would have problem wiping off their sweats and with those sweats it will cause the handicapped childrens to feel irritated.

Looking at the photographs of playgrounds we taken,none of them as bench or seating area nearby.This is quite illogical as there will be no seating area for the parents to sit on and to keep watch on their child and the childrens will not have a place to sit on when they feel tired of playing it (PS:I am not sure whether if there is no bench/seating area around the playground).

The design and facilities in the playgrounds are rather mediocre.The amount of facilities in the playground for the children to play with is inferior and the design of the playground is not attractive enough to attract little childrens' attention.To put it short,the overall designs are dull.

Next,we have to comment on the material used to built the support of the playground.Metal is used to make as a support and I think that is not a good choice.It is indeed true that metal is a strong material to support the playground but it will rust when time goes by and during hot season,the railings,that are also made of metal,will tend to get hot and childrens,especially handicapped childrens, who hold onto the railings will get themselves scalded and will lose grip and fall down.We can't imagine how acute the pain is going to be for a handicapped person to fall down.Even if there is shelther,we still have to take note of the heat of the metal railings for safety sakes.Normal children will tends to be very active too and they will run around the playground and it will be very painful if the childrens knocked on a metal bar or railings.

Our Advocacy

Making a shelther so as to prevent little childrens getting hot easily.
Building a toilet nearby.
Having better facilities and better and much more attractive designs to attract people of different age group.
Benchs and sitting areas to allow parents to sit down and keep watch on their child.
Replacing metallic materials with other durable and strong materials such as plastic.
Reducing the size of gaps,if possible try to prevent any gaps formed.
Last but not least,making a better environment for a children to play around such as making the garden litter-free.

OUR PLAYGROUND!
--3:43 AM--