From the Chicago Tribune and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Cities around the country are retooling their playgrounds to accommodate children with special needs. In Evanston, Illinois, parents raised money to build a special public playground on the lakefront in which virtually every piece of equipment is wheelchair accessible. In Seattle, the nonprofit Children’s PlayGarden is working with the city and Seattle Parks Foundation to add adaptive playground swings that are easier for children with disabilities to use.

The efforts are part of a national trend that has seen the number of accessible playgrounds rise in recent years as conditions such as autism garner awareness. Communications director Dina Morris at Boundless Playgrounds, a Connecticut-based nonprofit that builds accessible playgrounds, says the ten-year-old organization initially built about 10 playgrounds a year, but the number has risen to 25 annually in the last two years.

Earlier post here.

(Photo from Boundless Playgrounds)

From the Washington Post:

Some 100 students with disabilities danced the night away in a donated ballroom at Washington’s historic Willard Hotel at their prom, the “Cinderella Ball.” The students raised about $100,000 to stage the annual event, which was launched just three years ago in a warehouse in Woodbridge, Virginia.

No one noticed the occasional meltdown, when the loud music or crowd became a little too much. It didn’t matter that some students needed help feeding themselves. Couples held hands. Wheelchairs twirled. “I think the disabilities disappear when they are all together,” said Kim Cockrell, whose daughter Cari has Down syndrome.

From ESPN:

Dale Davis of Alta, Iowa, bowled a perfect game this month. The 78-year-old Davis is blind.

According to James Benton, president of the American Blind Bowling Association, a 300 game is a rarity for someone with impaired vision. In the association’s 60-year history, Benton said, his organization is aware of only four perfect games thrown by someone who is legally blind. And no one with complete loss of vision is known to have bowled a 300.

“It is extremely rare,” Benton said.

From macworld.com:

AssistiveWare, makers of assistive technologies for Mac OS X, has announced the launch of a new Web site called AssistiveGaming.com. The new site offers game-related information for Mac users who have physical disabilities.

… champutee breakdancing. On Youtube. Thanks to Professor Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Emory University, for posting it to the Disability Studies in the Humanities Listserv.

 Nick Bishop at the bottom of steps outside a restaurant in London

Writing in the [UK] Guardian, guest columnist Nick Bishop explains how he deals with the obstacles he comes across in everyday life — such as the steps that keep him from being able to go to a pub with his friends.

Things have improved vastly during my lifetime. And yet it is still impossible for a wheelchair user to enjoy even simple pleasures, such as going out to eat. I can accept that my disability means that I won’t be able to run a marathon, but I can’t accept these unnecessary obstacles that so limit my everyday life. The law, which simply demands that people make “reasonable adjustments” for people with disabilities, is far too vague and needs to be strengthened.

Bishop assesses the accessibility in London’s 10 top restaurants, and doesn’t come away happy.

From MSNBC.com, a feature that says cruise ships are becoming more and more accessible these days, although smaller and older ships still have problems.

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, the act was not extended to foreign-flagged cruise ships until 2005, following a class-action lawsuit filed against Norwegian Cruise Line that went before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled that cruise lines whose ships carry passengers to and from U.S. ports must provide features like grab bars, handrails and wheelchair-accessible water fountains; however, the court also held that cruise lines were not required to make major structural changes to their in-service vessels, such as widening doorways and adding new elevators.

Fortunately, many cruise lines are upgrading their older vessels simply because there is demand for fully accessible cruising. In fact, cruising has become the preferred style of vacation for many travelers with limited mobility because ships have become so user-friendly and offer a convenient platform from which to explore the world’s exotic destinations.