Developing America’s Most Inclusive Park in Milwaukee County
October 20, 2020 | Topics: Places
By Tom Mortensen
The site design team at raSmith is proud to be collaborating with The Ability Center and Milwaukee County Parks on a first-of-its-kind, all-inclusive park plan at Wisconsin Avenue Park in Wauwatosa. As part of The Ability Center’s Ramp Up program, this important, inspiring project focuses on developing universal recreation spaces for people of all abilities and ages.
The park will feature an active recreational complex with ballfields and play areas that are designed to be all-inclusive so that people with or without physical or developmental limitations can interact, play and participate in activities together. There will also be a trail system with a variety of destination exercise stations and distance markers threaded in a beautiful, wooded setting.
Founded by Damian Buchman, The Ability Center is a first-of-its-kind nonprofit organization dedicated to providing an all-inclusive fitness and recreation community for people impacted by disABILITIES and everyBODY else. The Ability Center is redefining the standard approaches of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by challenging us all to think differently about the inclusion of everyone.
The mission of The Ability Center is to provide people impacted by disabilities with a daily opportunity to be fit, active, healthy, and to play. Their vision is to build communities where all abilities are provided a universal opportunity for health, wellness and recreation. And their goal is to provide a higher quality of life for people of all abilities by transforming greater Milwaukee into the most universally inclusive recreation destination in the world.
For more information about The Ability Center’s inspiring mission and goals, please visit their website at tacwi.org.
Tom Mortensen, PLA, ASLA, is the Assistant Director of Land Development Services and Site Planner/Landscape Architecture Group Leader at raSmith.
The featured photo at the top of an existing playground at Wisconsin Avenue Park is by Eddee Daniel, Project Director of A Wealth of Nature.