That’s not stopping the City of Puyallup and a determined mom who wants her daughter – who has cerebral palsy – to be able to play with other children. They’ve teamed up to build a wheelchair-accessible playground that will officially open at 10 a.m. July 26 at Bradley Lake Park, 531 31st Ave. S.E.

Building an inclusive playground isn’t something Puyallup had to do. It’s doing it for a better reason: Because all children should be able to play, and children with disabilities may need to play even more than children who don’t have disabilities. As Puyallup parks director Ralph Dannenberg put it, “This is the right thing to do.”

Playgrounds that accommodate children with disabilities are more expensive that regular ones. But the team behind the Bradley Lake Park playground got creative. The city had set aside $40,000 for a new playground, and it had $20,000 in another fund to make improvements that would comply with the ADA. Puyallup resident Karen Vindivich helped raise the remaining $90,000 needed to build the $150,000 playground where her daughter Savannah will be able to play with sister Vivianne and other children.

What they’ve built is sure to be a favorite destination for the area’s children with disabilities, because as far as Dannenberg knows, the only other inclusive playground in the South Sound is at Good Samaritan Hospital. But only patients can use it.

At Bradley Lake Park, children in wheelchairs will have better access to play equipment because the surrounding surface is flat and rubberized. They can power their swings with arm momentum if they don’t have enough leg power. And although many activities can be enjoyed at ground level, ramps provide access to the upper levels of the main play structure.

New playgrounds are increasingly offering inclusive elements so children with disabilities can play with their friends and family members. But there are still too few such places. Thanks to efforts by Vindivich and Puyallup officials, those children will have at least one place in the South Sound where they can forget about any physical limitations and just be kids.