Plea to return wheelchair swing to Carss Park playground

The inclusive piece of playground equipment for children and adults in wheelchairs - called a Liberty Swing - has been removed as part of the council's upgrade of the playground and there are no plans to replace it.

The St George School, which is based in Kogarah, has written to the council asking the council to reconsider.

"As a school for children with severe disabilities who are in wheelchairs, Carss Park is extremely accessible and a regular destination for our students to use as part of their weekly community program," the school's letter states,

"We would visit Carss Park to use the Liberty Swing as part of the students' outing. Many of our families would visit Carss Park so their children could access the Liberty Swing, whether it be on weekends or over the holiday period where their siblings could freely play on the equipment available to them in the playground while they could enjoy the freedom of using the wheelchair swing.

"Our staff, students and their families are very disappointed to know that the Liberty Swing is no longer there and will not be replaced."

The Liberty Swing's designer, Mortdale-based Wayne Devine addressed the July 22 council asking them to keep a Liberty Swing at Carss Park.

Mr Devine described how he decided to design the Liberty Swing after he saw a girl in a wheelchair in a playground in Western Sydney who was unable to participate in the play equipment that other children were using.

"I developed the swing at my factory at Mortdale and eventually it went in at Olds Park about 1999," he said.

"There was a miracle that day," he said, describing the day the Liberty Swing was unveiled, when a girl who was blind and in a wheelchair first used the swing.

"The girl lifted her head off her chest and started to laugh and laugh. She was on the swing for about three minutes and didn't stop laughing the whole time. Later her mother told me, 'My daughter is 17 and this was the first time I have ever heard her laugh.'"

Councillor Kathryn Landsberry submitted a Notice of Motion at the July 22 council meeting asking the council to reinstall an inclusive swing at the Carss Park playground.

"The safest way for a child in a wheelchair to participate on a swing is in an inclusive swing," she said.

"They serve a real purpose and we should not be removing these sorts of things. Yes, we have other inclusive equipment but something like this has been held very dear to members of our community who use it."

Cr Landsberry said that what was being proposed for the ungraded playground was an inclusive see-saw that will have two children on it at a time.

"Often kids in wheelchairs and their carers go to the park on their own and the carer is not going to have the capacity to take the child out of the wheelchair and the child may not be able to hold onto it safely," she said.

"The safest way for a child to participate on a swing is in an inclusive swing. It doesn't have to be a Liberty Swing.

"I hadn't realised that it wasn't included in Stage 1 of the playground upgrade. I think it is imperative as a council that we include something like this. The cost isn't exorbitant.

"We need to be servicing all sections of our community and able-bodied kids are going to have a lot more access down there in the Carss Park playground upgrade than kids who have special needs and disabilities," Cr Landsberry said.

"I encourage council officers to find a little bit of money to include it, ideally in Stage 1 of the playground upgrade but if not that most certainly in Stage 2 because it served a purpose in our community for a really long time. I think it would be a massive step backwards for our community if we didn't include an inclusive swing in the playground upgrade," she said.

Cr Landsberry was unanimously supported by the councillors.