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Inclusive Playgrounds, Autism, and Community Change with Erica Witte · Inchstones with Sarah | Autism Advocacy & Caregiver Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Inchtones podcast.
• 0:04
  Speaker B: Today.
• 0:04
  Speaker A: I have Erica Witte here with me today. She is a local mom, acquaintance of and friend of mine that also has a child with special needs. And when I first heard of her name, it was through the local mom board on Facebook. And when I dug a little deeper, I was realizing that she was on a mission for what is now called Project Playground. To revamp and renovate the local playgrounds to be more inclusive in our town. And as a woman and mother, obviously with children on the spectrum with profound special needs, when I look and see women on parallel missions, knowing that it is driven so much by their lived experience in their heart, I cannot help but want to pull them in and ask them how I can get their message out, because it's a foundational part of my work here on the podcast. So, Erica, thank you for being here today, and I'm so excited for everyone to hear your story and your journey and what Project Playground has done locally and also for you as a woman.
• 1:09
  Speaker B: Thanks so much for having me on. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.
• 1:13
  Speaker A: So what would be, what was your inspiration for Project Playground?
• 1:17
  Speaker B: Yeah, so as you mentioned, I'm a mom of two. I have a 10 year old and a 7 year old, and my 7 year old was born very prematurely and has a physical disability. So he uses a walker for mobility. And really where this started was, you know, we were finishing up early intervention and I did a tour of the public preschool in my town where my son was scheduled to attend. And part of the tour, you know, you go see the playground because, you know, think about it. Social, emotional, learning, like, so much for early childhood development that takes place on the playground with peers and, and, and movement and, and motor skills, et cetera.
• 2:03
  Speaker A: Play is the foundational part of any development for children. It's. It's foundational.
• 2:08
  Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So we're standing on this playground and, you know, I'm looking around and everything is, you know, climbing equipment, wood chips, just. There's. There wasn't really anything accessible on the playground. And at the time, I mean, I was, I was, I mean, I, I think I even, you know, started crying. Like, I was just like, how is this, how is this going to work? Like, this can't be, you know, recess should not be, like, where your child feels excluded, you know, or struggles the most. Yeah, exactly. And so at the time, you know, I initially talked to the school district a bit and, you know, it didn't, it wasn't progressing as quickly. And I ended up talking to some parents actually with the pto. And at the time I was a full time working parent in the city. I mean, I wasn't, I didn't even know the heads of the pto, but I just reached out to them and I explained our, you know, I explained the situation and I'll never forget it. One of my co founders, Laura, she, she had this long pause and she said, well, we need to change this. This is not okay. And she introduced me to our other co founder, Rima, who was also a physical therapist. And she's like, you know, this is not okay. Like, we need to change this. Playground should be places where, you know, everyone feels included. So with that, we founded in 2022 Project Playground, which is a local nonprofit initiative. And since we founded it, it has raised over $500,000. And we have added accessible equipment, accessible surfacing, and inclusive signage. So far we've added it to three school playgrounds and we have another four playgrounds that are currently in the works. And one thing I found is that, you know, a number of towns do great jobs where you go to the local town playground. And it's amazing and it's fully inclusive. But some of these schools are so old and, you know, kids are spending, you know, two and a half hours a week on the playground. And if there's not, you know, opportunities for them, you really, you know, that that's not the way it should be.
• 4:28
  Speaker A: One of the things I have to go back to in your original, original inspiration tour of the, of the school and then what inspired you to begin this is what you said about the mulch and the climbing. And I think that the word that always rises for me is that there wasn't conscious planning. And I think as someone, I'm sure you and I have sat in more hours than we care to admit in IEP review meetings. And there's the verbiage that used from an IEP standard is the least restrictive environment for the children to learn. And the playground is absolutely an extension of the school in the iep. And I think that you found that edge. You hit that friction line of. It's yes, this is a playground. This is not consciously doing what the IEP and the legal process of public education for children like ours not only demand, but are, are entitled to. And that word conscious planning just like, comes up so much because I, I can feel, I align so deeply with that, like, heartfelt sinking feeling of like, this is not gonna work right? Like, mothers know you can feel that. And you Can. And you analyze that so quickly. And. And then second, I wanted to hit on the power of the mom network. Right. Like, you immediately knew where that gap was and reached out to the other women and mothers and therapists that could help this mission grow. So the. Those are just two things I wanted to touch upon because I believe that they allowed that momentum that you felt and wanted to change, grow. Yeah.
• 6:03
  Speaker B: I think as far as conscious planning, you know, I don't think that there was ever an intention of anyone.
• 6:11
  Speaker A: There rarely is.
• 6:13
  Speaker B: You know, there rarely is. Let's make this, you know, let's make this so certain kids can't use it.
• 6:20
  Speaker A: I couldn't agree more. And that's what leads to these frictions, because if you don't ask for the entirety of the children you're serving, you will erase a population without even thinking about it. And it's not ill will. It doesn't come from a bad place. It doesn't come from lack of. Literally not lack of wanting to include. It just doesn't come to mind because you don't have the planners around that mindset. Right.
• 6:45
  Speaker B: Yeah. And that's. That's something that I feel like has been really powerful and impactful about this initiative is like, yeah, I am thrilled that now there are playgrounds that have, you know, accessible seesaws and spinners and swings like it. That's amazing. But what I also am, like, so proud of is that this has, like, really raised awareness that now when different groups are looking at updating their playgrounds or just changing things, like, one of the first things they mention is, okay, well, is this successful? We should add something that's successful. It's really, like, brought it to the front of the conversation. And, you know, I would just say the other thing that I'm really proud of with this is that, you know, my daughter's 10, so at the time we were starting it, she was in, you know, second grade. And I thought it was really cool that she was able to see and the other committee members, their kids were able to see that, like, here. Here was something that, like, it wasn't right. You know, the way it was set up was not right.
• 7:57
  Speaker A: That's right.
• 7:57
  Speaker B: And that, you know, here she was able to see her parent speak up, do it in a way that was positive and change it, you know, and be able to change it and be able to, like, you know, not accept it, but also change it in a way that had a positive impact. And I just felt like for my kids to see that, I thought it Was like a real or other kids see that. I thought it was like a really like great lesson.
• 8:25
  Speaker A: Well, I, I go very deep in my own life about modeling.
• 8:29
  Speaker B: Right.
• 8:30
  Speaker A: We can tell our kids, you and I have typical children and I, I can tell my, my 12 year old till I'm blue in the face. Like, remember to always look out for the children that might not have the friend on the playground. Remember to always keep in mind that the communication at different students is different. You live in a home where that is true. The only way children really do absorb that through life is by the modeling of their parents. You know, it's, it's. They watch us, you know, our children, our, you know, our daughters that. Your daughter that you're speaking of, my oldest. They've imprinted on, you know, on us and us on them. And they are watching us like hawks, even if they are not even consciously aware of it. And I think that you struck something so deeply there is that she was watching her mom. I'm going to get chills. She was watching her mom make a change for her brother in a way that at, in second grade, you're not gonna hear us tell the soliloquy. But maybe when she's like 30, 35 and making those own choices, she will think, oh my gosh, my mom modeled that for me. And I think that that's, that is one of the greatest gifts we can give any child. But you know, specifically the siblings of, of special needs that have special needs siblings.
• 9:37
  Speaker B: Yeah. And then going back to your other point regarding, you know, the moms. Yes, Mom Network. You know, I think that, and, and I know it's something that you talk about a lot on your podcast and your guests talk about, you know, having a special needs child can be very isolating and, and you know, all sorts of emotions that come with that and something that I can't even like put into words, but it was like so refreshing and like just like unexpected is, is when I went to, you know, some of these other parents or this network. I mean it was people who like, I didn't even. And it was people with like, you know, their kids are running around, they're using all this stuff on the playground and like, just like, you know, we had all the, we had a couple people join our committee and you know, like this person, maybe their, their relative was used a wheelchair or this person, they were an occupational therapist, so they like had a connection to it. And then we had like two or three people where they're like, you know, I just live near this playground. And I want it to be like, great or. And it was just like, so, so refreshing to just meet people who, it was like, unexpected. Like, some of the donors that came in, they were just good people. And I felt like it really, you know, this, this journey can be so isolating. And it was just, it was like, very inspiring. And it made, it made it, it made me like, rethink a lot of things about just, you know, the journey.
• 11:04
  Speaker A: Well, I support like, it's like almost this cleansing of, we don't know what everyone in our community or how the support could be offered if until we present it and people come out and say, I would love to help with that, I can do that. I, I, I feel aligned to this because of my own lived experience. And I think that that's what, again, this is such a success story in that because you and I both are mothers who obviously have not been stopped by any sort of diagnosis of our children to just live full and happy, charging, charge forward lives. And maybe you and I both, and I, I can align with this. You still were bracing for there to be a little pushback or not the support that you would have anticipated or were you asking too much. And then when you saw the benefit and you saw those people come out and support it does, it does cleanse you of all these, like, residual notions that you thought like, oh, this wouldn't work, you know, this is not going to happen or it's not going to happen in the capacity I want. It really puts your faith back in your community.
• 12:07
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, before that, I just remember walking out on that playground and I just, I felt like, you know, before we made this change, like, I just felt like very angry, like, and I'm like, why do I feel angry? I'm on a playground, you know, like, I shouldn't feel like this. And then after we got, you know, worked with the community and everything, it just, it just was a totally different feeling. It was just a really positive feeling. So like turning this, this very like, negative feeling, isolated, negative set. And it was just, it was a really good experience. I mean, it actually like, led me to kind of like, rethink my career, you know, change a lot of things with, you know, how I'm kind of approaching this. So, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was a big deal. I love it.
• 12:53
  Speaker A: And I think again, this being an example in our town, but also to give hope to anyone else that might be listening in a different part of the country to Just understand that I think the more aware you are that, that the community of support is out there and you have the ability or desire to change something. Like Erica took from a situation that, that was seen as painful or it made her. Made made other moms like her angry. Like same with my myself. Utilizing those emotions for a project to allow the community to support you is never the wrong choice. I felt the same way when I brought a documentary to our town a few years ago called Rocco up about a non speaking autistic boy learning how to surf out in Montauk. And the response in the community, again, it blew me away. I was so taken aback by how many people wanted to see this 22 minute short. And it, it went to show exactly that kind of community level desire when you actually give community members the opportunity to support. So I want to totally switch gears here because something that was, has risen to the top of our one on one conversations is something very specific to your Project Playground, which was that you installed communication boards for children, non verbal, non speaking autistic children. It was this specific way in which you created those that I'd love for you to talk about because I love this journey and the stories that you've shared about this.
• 14:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, no thanks. So it was brought to our attention while we were doing this project. There was a woman in, in, in the administration who had a relative who was non, non verbal and she highlighted, you know, the benefit of having communication boards on the playground. And, and you know, we were all in support of that. So the first thing we did was look at, okay, like how much do these cost? Because like this is a grassroots effort. Like we were like dollar for dollar figuring this all out. So, so you know, we look at it and it's like, I don't know, depending on which one you get, it's like $4,000 or something. It's like for a standard board that doesn't even include like installation, I'm like, you know, it's kind of expensive. Is there another way we could do this? And so we decided to create a program called Project Playground Young Designers, where we basically created a volunteer application which I submitted to the high school guidance counselor portal and posted it to really search for volunteers who were interested in, you know, not only the community, but maybe like design, graphics, speech, et cetera. So we had a number of students apply and we brought them into the school to meet with the speech therapist who explained like, okay, this is what an AAC device is. This is how it's used. She brought in a Talker. And the kids passed it around, and we created kind of like, two projects. One was to create a custom communication board graphically, and another student created it physically. And it was wonderful because it was customized, you know, not only with the school name, but we were able to kind of say, okay, you know, there's a spinner on this playground. Let's make sure that there is a spinner on the communication board. So we had kind of like, one leg of the project was communication boards, and then the other leg was inclusive signage. So we had a student who was a really good artist, and we said, okay, we want to be able to show, like, a welcome sign that really highlight children of all abilities. And we gave him a couple parameters, but very limited. And he came back with this amazing design which shows, you know, features a child with a communication device, a child with a hearing aid, a child with a wheelchair, a child with AFOs, you know, like, orthotics on their feet, and they're like, all together, and it's like, you know, welcome to the school. So with that, I felt like it was great because kids walk by that every day, and it. It kind of made it like, I. I know what that is. I know what an AFO is now, you know? Cause otherwise, they see these kids and they're like, what's that? Why are you wearing that? You know, and. And it, like, normalized. It, like, normalized that, you know, some kids might use devices and. And. And, you know, it's not so different, I think.
• 17:33
  Speaker A: You know, again, this goes back to the modeling we were talking about, what we intake. You know what? Sometimes we don't even realize the messages or the pictures or the branding that we're taking in so frequently in this, like, global digital world, that the conscious choice to do that is basically allowing children to get those messages that this is what inclusion. This is what the abilities of all children look like so that they can match that with their actual peers. And I think that it would be. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that we need the power of inclusion to come from all these different angles. It's not just the child that's in a class with our children. It's the actual signage. It's what the principal is modeling. It's what the other mothers are modeling. It's what the choice of foundation not being mulch, being a more solid rubber or. Or a flat top. I mean, there's so many conscious choices that we don't. We sometimes don't. I think that you And I do. But we have to do better about that messaging across the board. And I think that that's just an awesome example of that. Like, you put that on there because we have to. As. As humans, we take in visual messages all the time. It can't just be vocal because the children that are being included sometimes don't have a physical voice to speak. So I love that. I love that. That. That was part of the journey with that board specifically.
• 19:00
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that communication board, I mean, here it is, like, we had a quote for something. It was like $4,000 to get this standard board.
• 19:09
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 19:10
  Speaker B: And meanwhile, we empowered these high school students to do it. One of the students designed this board graphically, which has now been. She's customized schools in our town, soon to become seven. So it's. Her design is now featured at all of these schools. And I mean, she ended up, you know, she's in college now, but she ended up, like, applying for a scholarship and highlighting this project, and she got, like, a scholarship for it. It was just, like, all over. It was this experience where, like, now we have something that Instead of costing $4,000, it costs like a hundred dollars by the time we did it. Um, and it was like, it got these high school students who, I mean, you know, they. They probably, you know, they might not have had a connection to a person who used a communication device, but now they've created something that really. And. And I think about that communication. I think about the communication board a lot because, you know, there are. There are several students in the school who use talkers. But I feel like it's even more impactful because, I mean, every student in the school now, they know what a communication board is, and they know why it's used. It's, like, built all of this awareness that otherwise wasn't there before.
• 20:31
  Speaker A: I think inclusion, the word inclusion, I believe in. Through what you just shared, it allows for this expansion of opportunity. And not just in the physical realm of what material you had to get. Right. The communication board on the playground, but it expanded the opportunities of what a high school student never in a million years probably thought that her skill set and how that would expand into her life, create more opportunity for her. And, like, that's what I believe so deeply that inclusive directives can be. Because it's a. It expands the heart and minds of what individuals touched by opportunities like this. It expands them too. It allows them to see deeper into what they can provide to a community. It's. It's so cool. It like, it Again, it's not even. These are the things I always say they are life luxuries. We always put such a price tag on the things of this world, right? Like even you just saying that was $4,000 for to buy the communication board, that's insane. You know, my grandfather would say that's highway robbery. The fact that it's a luxury to work with younger individuals, younger humans who can utilize their skills, provide a service and then use that to expand the best parts of them, that is luxury in life. I, I can shout it from the rooftops. I had a, my high school babysitter. I recorded an episode with her and actually haven't announced this. It's been one of the most downloaded episodes of the podcast. She is all of 19 years old and her generation, I think in a positive light. Cause there's so much hate on Gen Z and what they do and all these things. Their empathy and what it has expanded for them I think is unparalleled. And I just love, I love this anecdote from your own work. What would be an inch stone win of yours currently as these projects continue to blossom? What is something that is a small victory that you saw or experienced, the process that actually had a ripple effect like that. Would, would you think of another one for, for us to share?
• 22:40
  Speaker B: I mean, I guess I'm just thinking about standing on that playground with, with my son and, and, and then like, you know, months later after we made these changes, I mean we put in a spinner that he, he brings this walker, right, he walks it right onto the spinner. It's like a zero entry spinner. And he's on there with like the other kids. And it was like, it was unbelievable when I saw it. But I guess actually one other thing I would say that I felt like really helped, you know, push certain things forward. And I feel like I used, I used this a lot with this project, but then I also used this a lot with just like general like everything. Like when we were on that playground at the first time, like one of the things I noticed is that they have like these, sometimes they have these like barriers that are around the playground. They're like wooden barriers. And the goal is so that they keep the wood chips in. But I mean for one of the entrances to the playground, it was right there. Like you couldn't even get on like from the pathway because there was a barrier. Like, I was just like, this is, this is ridiculous. So what I decided to do at the time is I made a video, I made a Video of my son trying to access the playground where there is this wood barrier and he couldn't get his walker over it. And I remember I struggled a little bit because I'm like, you know, here I'm like highlighting something that my son can't do. And is, is that, you know, do I, you know, how do I feel about that? But I felt like it was gonna, you know, make a positive change. And you know, I just played around with imovie.
• 24:15
  Speaker A: I had never used imovie before.
• 24:17
  Speaker B: I made this video and I, you know, I send it to the principal and like, like a week later the thing was gone. I mean, I think the power of like videos and, and I use a video a lot with just like everything because, you know, whether it's a new therapy team with my child or educators or whatever, I feel like sometimes you're in this, these situations where like, okay, you're at a doctor's appointment and, and you have 15 minutes and you're trying to like, capture, you know, the everything, all the strengths or all the challenges that your child has. And a lot of times, like, that's not possible or it's just like, that's not the day for that. And so I've something that I've done a lot is every year I create like a two or three minute video of compilations of everything. And I include some text and some music or whatever, and I share it with the teachers, the aides and everything ahead of time. And I feel like they're able to really get a sense of the strengths or the challenges or whatever it is. And I'm able to tell that story in a way that, you know, I don't have to feel like I'm describing it via email or, you know, maybe I was hoping he would show something in an appointment that he didn't, you know. So I found that to be very powerful with not only Project Playground, but with just things in general.
• 25:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's huge. I mean, it's efficient too, right? I mean, utilizing the tech that we have to get our message across effectively is highly important. I talk a lot about mother's intuition and I think what you're, you know, how you're sharing that. We've all been in those offices where they don't exhibit the behavior or they, or they do something that is not really the focal point of what you wanted to get across and to be able to share the fullness of our experience as the mother and what we do experience with their behaviors or the limitations or the wins as well. And what we want to keep on and encourage. That can be an exhaustive experience if it's only through one sort of like, again, verbal medium. And I. I love that thing. That's a. That is a wonderful. Not only just. That's a gift to anyone listening here. I know my kids, schools actually do every therapist for their, you know, twice a year, ieps. Every therapist actually does that. They take all the year's videos and they're like, this is what we've been working on for six months. And so the whole IEP meeting, I mean, it's an hour, two hours long, but it's dotted with. They wear GoPros and they show me what's been going on. And it's been the coolest thing because then it allows for that generalization to happen at home. Because I'm like, oh, my gosh, I had no idea that he could do that. And then vice versa of, oh, he throws his juice box in the trash at home every time. And here's the, you know, this is the verbiage that we use. And I think that, that, that's awesome because I think it just really shows that utilizing all the different ways that we can show the fullness and the breadth and the depth of our children who do need more support is never wrong. It's never the wrong thing to be able to show that depth and breadth and from the mother's perspective and what's happening in our world at home and outside in our community. So what a wonderful example. Erica, thank you so much for this conversation. I think that it's going to light the flame under a lot of women, mothers and caregivers in different parts of the country, to use you as a wonderful example to what can happen. And I think turning something that can be really painful into such an incredibly expansive, beautiful experience, not only to change the lives of your children and those that go to school with him, but for the whole community. You never know the fractals of which that'll happen, and this is a wonderful example of that. So thank you for what you do.
• 28:14
  Speaker B: Thanks for having me.
• 28:15
  Speaker A: Thank you so much. And until next time on the Inch Zones podcast.