Federal Funding Will Make Municipal Child Care Centre in Goderich more Accessible

by Bob Montgomery

The Manager of Child Care Services at the Municipal Child Care Centre in Goderich says they were successful in receiving a grant from the Federal government of just over 96-thousand dollars to address accessibility at the Centre.

Bonnie Hastings says the money will be used for the design, supply and installation of an accessible outdoor playground, with the emphasis on accessibility and inclusion at the Child Care Centre. She says the proposal includes several elements for the outside part of the playground and site preparation and then they're going to install something called durolawn, which is a product that is laid down with the grass so that it looks like grass but allows for the travel of wheel chairs. Hastings says it's a kind of hard mesh product that goes under the grass, so it functions like a side walk but looks like grass.

Hastings says they're also installing a custom pod that is an outdoor sand box that is surrounded by natural-looking stumps, but allows accessibility in and out because they're level with the ground. She says there are also several other play elements including a music centre, and they're all accessible to children of all ages.

Hastings says a lot more is being done today to address accessibility issues, but adds in their case they've targeted their infant playground, so their infants can be anywhere from three months old to eighteen months old, so some are barely beginning to crawl and others are starting to walk. Hastings says they're not always addressing physical disabilities as much as different stages of development.