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Inclusive Play
Lightmain has become increasingly aware of the issue of “inclusive play” and what Local Authorities could do about it. Audit teams have “failed” many current play schemes and funding has been refused on proposed schemes that do not deliver on the true sentiment of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). We have therefore been looking for a company that designs products from the outset with inclusivity at its centre and to that end we have been working with a new company called “i-play” and are delighted to announce that Lightmain has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement to manufacture and represent the i-play product range and philosophy throughout England and Wales from September 2007. Lightmain's role has been to help develop the product from initial design through to full production.
For more information about i-play the Company, please visit Inclusive Play Limited or just read on for an overview of the background behind product development.
Inclusive Play Ltd was incorporated in April 2006 to facilitate the development of a range of outdoor childrens play equipment that focuses on the true sentiment of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
They identified a growing demand for inclusive products that, whilst children with a broad spectrum of disabilities could use them, all other park users were attracted to the equipment and found it exciting and challenging. There was a need for products that broke down the social / physical barriers that are evident on play spaces throughout the UK today.
To develop products that matched these expectations i-play engaged with key stakeholders in this sector as well as talented industrial designers. With design being paramount they set up a working group which included; Capability Scotland, Napier University, Jupiter Play & Leisure, i4 Product Design and City of Edinburgh Council.
This working group provided the ideal mix to develop specialist product: Capability Scotland provided interested children and carers to identify what they deem as good and bad practice in play provision. Napier University provided raw design talent from final year Product Design students. Jupiter Play looked at the practicalities of materials and scale through their significant experience of the outdoor play market. i4 Product Design provided the engineering solution to build the products and create prototypes for testing and City of Edinburgh Council provided real sites within the City for the products to be road tested.
This rewarding and collaborative experience continues today and whilst i-play will continue to work with the stakeholders detailed above they will be looking forward to working with many more in the future such as special needs play schemes throughout the country, barnardos and their network of care homes. These working groups give the truth about what children protected by the DDA want from their public play spaces.
Perhaps the most important thing about the range of products is that they will good fun for everybody.
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