- Title
- Not just for the fun of it : Children’s constructions of disability and inclusive play through spatiality in a playspace
- Creator
- Burke, Jenene
- Date
- 2015
- Type
- Text; Book chapter
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/159410
- Identifier
- vital:11975
- Identifier
- ISBN:9789463001991
- Abstract
- In Australia, the notion of providing opportunities for children with impairments to access play in purpose-built spaces, and have fun alongside their peers and siblings, has gained momentum, translating into the development of some new and exciting ‘inclusive playspaces’. Previously, very little attention or importance was given to the idea that playspaces might exclude some children and carers with impairments from shared play in community spaces. Recently, in paper titled ‘Just for the fun of it’ (Burke, 2013), I advanced an argument supporting the concept of playspaces that are inclusive of all children and that provide access to the experience of shared play. This paper highlighted the vagaries that apply to various attempts to ensure accessibility and inclusion in purpose-built playspaces. I concluded that inclusion in play environments should be considered an important political objective to facilitate healthy, vibrant, fair and connected communities. The reasons why children with impairments should have access to peer play in community and school spaces, however, are much more complex than merely providing access to fun and entertainment for children with impairments and their family members. When examined through a Disability Studies lens, how children construct disability and form views of those with impairments through their experiences of using in a playspace becomes an issue that requires close attention. In this chapter I explore the concept of spatial exclusion in playgrounds, from a disability studies perspective, by drawing on ideas from Armstrong (1999, 2012), Relph (1975) and Imrie and Kumar (1998) to help explain how space can be used in a playground to convey implicit messages about impairment that highlight difference, particularly, of children who use wheelchairs for mobility.
- Publisher
- Sense Publishers
- Relation
- Disability studies : Educating for inclusion p. 3-21
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
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