Summertime is in full swing in Federal Way and the 32 parks within the city are full of kids and families enjoying the sun.
Not all families can participate equally, however, as Federal Way City Councilmembers Susan Honda and Lydia Assefa-Dawson know too well. Both of these councilmembers have disabilities that require crutches when walking.
About 80% of Federal Way’s parks are not marked as featuring ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) access in the city’s parks and trails guide.
In Councilmember Assefa-Dawson’s memories of park days or sports games with her kids, a lack of accessibility meant “I’m always watching them from a distance,” she said. “I remember many, many, many times where I just sat in the car and waited for them to come back. Even if I could get there, there would be nowhere to sit.”
One time stands out in her mind, when one of her children fell while climbing a tree and she couldn’t get close enough to check on him. She could tell from a distance that something was wrong, but due to the lack of pathways that she could walk on and the distance, she had to depend on another parent to help out.
The moment highlighted the challenge of parks that lack even and smooth walkways as well as adequate seating and play structures close to parking lots.
Councilmember Honda had similar experiences, and shared what it was like for her to lose some of her mobility as a parent. Taking her children to the park very suddenly became almost impossible.
“I’ve been on crutches since May of 1990, when my youngest was 2 and a half,” Honda said in an interview. “I couldn’t walk, so there were times I crawled.”
Steel Lake Park
In 2014, the City of Federal Way became the first in the nation to have a park with an AbilityWhirl play structure, although that structure is currently fenced off with signage letting park guests know not to use it.
It’s located at Steel Lake Park and is meant to able to be used by those in a wheelchair. However, that park is not one of the six in the city with ADA access, according to city materials.
The reopening of Steel Lake Park was attended by Miss Wheelchair USA at the time, Jennifer Adams, and the accessible structure was paid for by the Federal Way Rotary Club, which raised $54,700 for the project.
Assefa-Dawson said she hasn’t personally seen the play structure at Steel Lake Park because the path from the parking lot to the play structure isn’t accessible to her because it is too far to walk, but that “it’s something, we started somewhere.”
An event page from that day in 2014 shares that “the park features numerous ability-friendly play items, including braille play panels, and a tunnel, omni spin whirl, and many other items for mobility-impaired kids.”
While the inclusive toy is great and “Steel Lake Park has a wonderful play structure,” Honda said the main play structure is “not accessible for people in wheelchairs or those who have mobility issues.”
Honda said she has been working on getting a truly inclusive park in Federal Way for the past eight to 10 years. At the city council meeting on July 2, Honda spoke about the impact of a recent visit to a “radically inclusive” park in Vancouver, Washington, as part of the annual Association of Washington Cities conference.
“I have talked with our state representatives who said this is something that they would try to find money for … they have found money for other cities to build inclusive parks,” Honda said. “I’m not asking that the city build this all on our own because I know that we can’t do that, but I don’t think it’s something that is impossible to do. I think it’s something that we could do with help and with a lot of planning.”
Park elements around the edge of the play area at Steel Lake feature some braille and sensory play equipment due to a 2014 remodel with some inclusive additions.
Universal design
While the personal experiences of Honda and Assefa-Dawson speak to the many others who share these challenges in Federal Way, advocating for inclusive parks is not just about parents or kids with physical disabilities, Honda said.
“Even if I was fully capable, I’d still have my daughter in a stroller,” she explained, describing how creating pathways and structures that are easier to access by all types of wheels would make life easier even for parents who are not disabled.
Assefa-Dawson said the same, noting that everyone benefits when spaces are more accessible for everyone: “It’s not a loss to those who don’t need it to accommodate those who do. It just makes everything richer for everyone.”
Conversations around inclusive infrastructure like play structures echo the movement for curb ramps on sidewalks. These are now the norm because of advocacy for disability rights and accessibility in the 1970s, manifesting in tangible changes to daily life like that sloping cement ramp bridging a sidewalk to a street, for example.
The Americans with Disabilities Act wasn’t signed until 1990, the same year that Federal Way incorporated as a city.
While Honda’s mobility changed as an adult, Assefa-Dawson was that child on the playground who couldn’t play with others because she couldn’t access the same spaces.
“Growing up, I couldn’t participate in a lot of activities with other kids. Had there been accessible parks or play structures and activities, I think I would have enjoyed my childhood more,” said Assefa-Dawson, who lost her legs in a fire when she was a baby.
Honda spoke to the benefits of parks in general, saying “parks can in some ways make all kids equal,” by allowing children from different economic classes, different schools and different abilities to play together in the same public space.
“Parks are part of public safety,” she said. “People think it’s just crime, but it is about our whole environment.”
Citywide accessibility
Accessibility impacts Assefa-Dawson as an adult on the Federal Way City Council. She said it typically looks like having to ask every time whether she will be able to participate.
As one example, the council was invited to attend a tour of the Woodridge Corporate Park, but she couldn’t go because there was so much walking. In these moments, she said, “I live vicariously through other people’s eyes.”
Inclusive changes to infrastructure in general can be very expensive, as the city’s ADA Transition Plan from 2020 shows. This is the most recent version of the plan available on the city’s ADA Transition Plan website.
The city shared in a statement that “The city’s ongoing effort to meet and exceed ADA standards is seen in the continuous updates to its inventory of ADA projects. The city and its residents proactively work together to keep this inventory as up-to-date as possible. These updates are often not captured in the biannual plan published online because the updates occur almost daily.”
While not all updates are captured in the available report, it does show that true accessibility in Federal Way has a long way to go. As just one example, most of the curb ramps in the city did not meet current ADA standards in 2017.
The report showed that “over 80% of the 2,600+ curb ramps fail to meet current ADA standards. However it is estimated that approximately 30% of the 2,600+ curb ramps would need to be replaced or retrofitted in order to provide reasonable accessibility.”
There are a long list of specifications on true accessibility for just this category, including the angle of the curb ramp itself, or the mounting height of the pedestrian push button at sidewalk crossings.
In 2018, the cost to fix all level 1 priority curb ramps, push buttons and sidewalks in just the city center came out to approximately $1 million.
The city’s stated objective in 2020 was to “address all known Priority 1 deficiencies with 20 years.”
With that being said, with the widespread development projects in the city, many spaces are being quickly made more accessible as construction provides the opportunity to upgrade infrastructure.
“All of the city’s transportation and facility projects ensure compliance with ADA standards,” according to an email from a city spokesperson. “Each time the city builds a new road, overlays an existing street, upgrades a city facility, or constructs a new building, ADA compliance is at the forefront of our priorities.”
While accessibility looks different for everyone, this Disability Pride Month, Assefa-Dawson said we need to think about “how do we service everyone when it comes to accessibility?”
The main play area at Steel Lake Park has wood chips that aren’t accessible for kids or parents in wheelchairs or many with mobility issues, even if they could manage to get down this small ramp. Photo by Max Burchi/The Mirror
A child with a walker points to a fun statue of an animal using a walker at the Chelsea Anderson Memorial Play Station (CHAMPS) @Marshall Park in Vancouver, Washington. Photo from Harper’s Park, the organization that designed, funded and provided construction oversight for the playground. Concept design for the park was by Todd Girvin of Harper’s Playground.
The Esther Short Park in Vancouver, Washington, features a variety of inclusive and accessible elements. Photo from Harper’s Park, the design consultant on the project.
