According to Las Cruces Public Schools, there are over 3,500 students with special needs enrolled in the district, and after almost a decade of trying one mother is working to get them a place to play.
Seriyah Borundua is a 14- year old student at Picacho Middle School with three sisters, she is a happy fun loving teenager who is living with cerebral palsy and a few other disabilities.
Her mother Dana Garcia wants to make sure Seriyah has the same opportunities as every child in Las Cruces.
“When she was a baby I used to think of here we are at a park with her sisters,” Garcia said. “And, there wasn’t much, so for many years her park experience was with me you know, sliding or swinging.”
Garcia is now a special needs advocate making sure children like Seriyah have a voice.
“You know I’m grateful that she has me,” Garcia said. “And my health is great, and I can help her to make sure that she is living a fulfilled life, but for those who can’t, how can I contribute to that, how can I make things easier for them how can I make things better for them because there are some people who aren’t fortunate in those ways.”
Last April, Garcia went to the city council to discuss the need for a special needs park in Las Cruces that could accommodate the needs of all children.
“I started to look into ethics, and law, and discriminatory acts and that’s exactly what I made it,” Garcia said. “And I don’t know if that’s what got people’s attention or not, I mean I really hope that’s not what it was, I really hope it was the compassion in their hearts that was filled to move on it, but that’s really how I viewed it at that point, after years of frustration, and closed doors and nobody to talk to.”
The special needs playground is now in the planning and development stages with funding from the city, state and local businesses.
The playground will be built at Young Park because of it’s centralized location and easy accessibility for children throughout the city.
The new playground will have special equipment that will allow children with special needs to be able to do something as simple as ride on a swing.
“For starters we will definitely have some wheelchair accessible swings to start with,” Garcia said. “It’s really hard, I’m not trying to get something designed to where it’s only going to meet her needs, I want to be able to meet the needs of an array of children with any kind of disability that they might have, whether they have a visual impairment or whatever the case.”
According to the National Recreation and Park Association, obesity rates among children with disabilities are 39% above those of children without disabilities; Garcia says being able to get outside and play would help keep children with disabilities healthy.
“The grounded area is going to be padded,” Garcia said. “If children can walk, if they have limitations to walking, of course they can get out, just being out is therapeutic period, and you know just being out the kids love it. It really could be you know therapeutic in a lot of different ways.”
Garcia says the park will also help children without disabilities be able to interact with disabled children, and hopefully prevent bullying.
“There’s been many times when we’ve gone out in public,” Garcia said. “And children are just like ‘ew and what’s wrong with her’ and they don’t mean to be rude, they just don’t know any better, so if we can build relationships between children like her and other children I think that would just be really nice.”
Both Seriyah and her mother are excited for the new playground to be built, but Garcia says she will continue working for special needs equipment at parks throughout Las Cruces.
Currently there is no public special needs playground in New Mexico, and another special needs playground in Rio Rancho is set to open later this year.
