Including All Children at Playground

Hello Everyone:

My name is Carrie and I am new to your group. I live in Massachusetts and am Mom to an 8-year old boy with Angelman Syndrome. He cannot walk or talk. His challenges are not due to a spinal cord injury. I am his primary caregiver. I am also self-employed as an Educational Advocate - I help parents fight for proper services for their children with disabilities in the public school setting. I learned about your group while searching for grant opportunities for an important project I am working on.

I have taken it upon myself to renovate a playground in our Town to make it handicap accessible and to modify the play structures so that children of all abilities can play together. Of course, the Town will not contribute any funds toward the project, although they do support it. We live in a fairly small town, but have about 14 children with physical disabilities (most in chairs) and over 200 kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Most of these kids are in grades K - 6.

I was hoping some of you could point me in the right direction for fund-raising or grant opportunities. Maybe some of you have participated in fund-raising events and would have some good ideas for me on different ways to raise the $100,000 I need to complete this project successfully (I am also renovating the now non-accessible restrooms at the park as well as adding chair accessible picnic tables, etc.)

Also, I'd like to contribute my knowledge of Special Education Laws to anyone here who may need advice or guidance (free of charge, of course!) for a child who has a disability in the public school setting.

I look forward to being a part of your group!

Carrie