Chennai: With a sprawling lawn, specially designed children’s park and playgrounds, children with disabilities in the city can play to their heart's content, thanks to the sensory park being set up by the Chennai corporation.
Coming up on Santhome high road in an area of 15,000 sq ft., the park will be inaugurated in the next two months, said Harmander Singh, principal secretary, municipal administration.
The park will have tactile feedback platforms, which will respond to touch, along with a specially designed herb garden having plants with unique fragrances to stimulate children’s olfactory senses. “The park will have exhibits which cater to all the five senses,” said a corporation official. There is also a light and sound show in the works. All these exhibits will also have Braille signboards, he added. The park will also have wheelchair-friendly toilets, seats, special courts to play basketball and a large fish tank.
Parents and children alike welcomed the initiative and look forward to using the unique facilities. “Parks in the city aren’t usually designed for children with disabilities. Sometimes, other children are afraid of children with special needs as they have never been exposed to them. This puts the special children in an uncomfortable position as they cannot go play on the swings or run about freely like the others. It is wonderful that the corporation has thought of such children,” said Prema Kumari, a special educator in the city.
A traffic park is also being constructed at a cost of 2.06 crore to educate children about traffic rules. Constructed in an area of 42,200 sq ft, the park will have signboards showing directions, concrete roads, light and sound halls, bus stops and traffic signals with LED lights.
“Both parks will have RO water facilities along with a sewage treatment plant and a rainwater harvesting unit. Children will be taught about the importance of such facilities too,” said Harmander.
