Making Fairyland More Accessible

By C.J. Hirschfield

Tory Rose Full will graduate from UC Berkeley this year with a double major in psychology and social welfare. But we think it’s her minor – “education and the developing child” — that led her to become Fairyland’s UC Berkeley Public Service Center intern.

When she arrived, she took on a project we’ve long wanted to implement: increasing Fairyland’s accessibility for guests with special needs. We want to create more opportunities for guests with special needs to connect to the park – not just by removing barriers but also by delivering active benefits. We’re delighted about the work she’s doing, and thought you might want to hear about it.

Tory Full in Fairyland's Chapel of Peace, a spot we've identified as a quiet space for kids with special needs

Tory’s first job was information-gathering: discovering the need. She developed a feedback form for teachers and guests who have visited Fairyland with children with special needs, even using our database to contact guests from the past five years.

Consulting with experts from groups such as Room to Bloom’s Developmental Playgroup, Tory learned strategies to help caregivers and children in their classes. She spoke with Fairyland staffers to learn about our different spaces and about what the park currently offers special needs field trips. Online research helped her understand what parks, museums, schools and hospitals use to increase accessibility and inclusion. She was also able to investigate educational resources related to autism, sensory processing disorder and physical disabilities.  

Research in hand, Tory and Fairyland’s director of community outreach and education, Vicky Chen, starting planning three new park features: a social story, a park connections map and a “calming cart.”

The social story is a first-person story created to help children with special needs like ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) feel prepared for their trip and know what to expect at Fairyland. Tory took photos throughout the park, printed them out, and added kid-friendly wording that includes guides (“When I need a break, I can go with my adult to the front office and pick toys from the basket that can help me feel more comfortable”), and fill-in-the-blanks (“Sometimes it can be loud, and I might feel ­­­­___________ . I can tell my adult when I need a break. One of the places I can go when I want to have some quiet space is The Chapel of Peace”).

To create the park connections map, Tory walked the park many times, looking and listening for areas that have high sensory engagement and those that are peaceful and calming. Her goal was to have a map for parents, teachers and aides that clearly identifies accessible restrooms, sense-engaging spaces, rest areas, quieter spaces and drinking water. She tested the map with one field trip last month, and was happy to see classroom aides using it. Now she’s waiting for their written responses.

Fairyland's new park connections map

The Calming Cart is a transportable cart with sensory play items to help with grounding, emotion regulation and relaxation. Tory wants it to be easily accessible for kids so they can take the lead role in their self-regulation. She also thinks it will be useful for special-ed teachers and aides during field trips. She came up with ideas that use the various senses, grounding them when appropriate in storybook themes such as “The Princess and the Pea.” We will also keep noise-reduction headphones at the front desk for kids to use if they request them.

Tory will be with us at Fairyland until the spring. Here are some of the other goals she’s identified:

• Creating a new page on our website for guests with disabilities, to include information about parking and drop-off, ride accessibility, and nutritional content of our café’s food offerings
• Offering printouts of our puppet scripts at the front desk to hearing-impaired guests who request them
• Increasing the visibility of fictional characters with special needs (books, paintings, puppets) around the park
• Increasing the number of books in our Reading Room that feature kids with disabilities
• Creating signs around the park indicating “quieter areas” and adding signs in the garden depicting senses children can use to engage with various plants
• Exploring the creation of a sensory wall that could be co-constructed with children and families in the community
• Adding Braille titles to our Storybook Boxes.

The biggest challenge for the special needs classes is transportation to and from the park, something we will focus on in our fundraising efforts.

Tory might technically be graduating in June, but she’s already earned her advanced Fairyland degree by taking us to the next level of accessibility, ensuring that our magical park is a place where everyone can create, imagine, play and learn—each in their own special way.

__
C.J. Hirschfield  has served for 17 years as the executive director of Children’s Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation’s oldest storybook theme park.