A first-of-its-kind playground is now open in the Raleigh area. How to visit
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Garner opens first intentionally inclusive playground with multiple accessible features.
- It adds mobility, communication and sensory amenities for children with disabilities.
- Town plans two more inclusive attractions at White Deer Park, including splash pad.
When Heather Harrell learned her daughter was diagnosed with Down syndrome, she wondered how her daughter might be excluded by other children.
“When we received Ellie’s diagnosis when we were pregnant, you just wonder,” said Harrell, a Garner mom of three. “Is she going to be included and around typical children?”
The town of Garner recently opened its first accessible playground at Garner Recreation Center, 215 W. Main St. The town has retrofitted accessible features into other parks, but this is the first with designed to be intentionally inclusive, said Matt Beard, the town’s park and greenway planning manager.
There are more than 200,000 children in North Carolina who have a disability, according to Public Schools First NC, a public education nonprofit. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are 2.7 million adults in North Carolina with a disability. That about one in three adults.
There are a handful of accessible playgrounds across the Triangle, and they have grown in popularity in recent years. Raleigh has three parks with wheelchair-accessible play structures at Laurel Hills, Marsh Creek and Method parks, and the city of Durham has five inclusive playgrounds that include play structures that can be accessed in a wheelchair, sensory gardens and accessible swings.
Accessible playground opens in Garner
“So much of my job is looking at how to maximize the benefit for our community since they’re the ones who are paying for it,” Beard said. “We need to respect the fact that we’re using public funds and provide amenities that 100% of our constituents, of our residents, can get some amount of joy out of.”
The Garner Recreation Center already hosts summer camps, after-school programs, sports practices and large community events like the summer movie series on the nearby multipurpose field, so the accessible playground was a natural fit, Beard said.
This type of playground makes it easier for children, like 3-year-old Ellie, to play and participate, Harrell said.
“It seems like it was created with accessibility in mind, and not just an afterthought,” Harrell said. “... I feel like everyone in the disability community, not just Down syndrome, but you know parents to kids with autism and people (who use) wheelchairs, just that they can play alongside their typical peers, and not just have to be sitting on the sideline watching because it’s not accessible to them.”
Features of Garner’s accessible playground
The playground opened this month including the following accessible features:
- An at-grade spinner or merry-go-round, which allows for a wheelchair user to roll directly on the platform, lock in place and spin.
- A lower-level jungle gym that can be accessible to those who use a wheelchair.
- A rocker, which allows for a wheelchair user to roll onto the rocker and rock back and forth.
- Swings that are ADA compliant and designed to support children who are unable to sit upright or have other mobility challenges while providing support while swinging.
- Sign language board, which includes the alphabet and common phrases and words like “friend,” “help” and “I love you.”
- A playground-themed communication panel, which helps people with limited or no verbal speech communicate with others.
- The playground is fully fenced to help prevent children from running away.
More accessible play options to come
Work on the playground began last fall and cost about $400,000, Beard said. The town intends to open two other inclusive features at the 96-acre White Deer Park. The first is an inclusive splash pad opening up in May, and a larger accessible playground featuring a sensory play and garden area, a wheel-chair accessible sandbox and towers children can play in that will open in the fall.
As much as Ellie enjoys playing in the mulch at playgrounds, Harrell said she has trouble walking on uneven surfaces, but she’s looking running on the Garner Recreation Center’s playground’s smooth surface.
“Designs like that just changes things for families like ours,” Harrell said. “It changes our whole experience when going to a playground.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 4:27 PM with the headline "A first-of-its-kind playground is now open in the Raleigh area. How to visit."
