DI School students dream big, advocate for inclusive playground

On an ordinary school day, recess can be a blur of running feet, squeals of laughter, and the rhythmic creak of swings. 

 

But for some students with disabilities, the playground can often be a place just to sit and watch.

 

This fall, as Daniel Island School students return for the 2025-26 school year, a recently installed play area may now give all students a chance to play – together.

 

In May, the school officially cut the ribbon on its brand-new inclusive playground, a colorful, sensory-rich space that officials hope will reflect more than just new equipment but also reflect the compassion and leadership of the students themselves.

 

It all started with a question.

 

“(The) DIS’ student council became concerned for classmates, like those in wheelchairs, who did not have access to a playground and asked what they could do,” said Josh Whitley, former Berkeley County Councilman for Daniel Island. “Principal (Laura) Blanchard and I encouraged them to dream up a solution and come present to county council.”

 

That solution turned into a powerful presentation by the DIS Student Council, led by eighth-grade president Emily Hughes, who asked the county in February 2024 for $72,000 to help create a playground that would be accessible for all students.

 

“We’re interested in making recess accessible to all students,” Hughes told council members. “We see kids with wheelchairs who sometimes get left out of recess or cannot physically use the equipment we currently have… and we want that to stop.”

 

The presentation by Hughes struck a chord. Instead of $72,000, the council unanimously voted to approve $100,000 and ultimately allocated a total of $200,000, funded through the county’s hotel accommodations tax.

 

“Council was so moved that we allocated more than double what was requested,” said Whitley, who was a council member at the time. “The flooring, which allows wheelchair access, is so expensive that we added another $100,000. This playground was funded through the overnight stays of tourists.”

 

What emerged is a fully accessible, sensory-friendly play space with equipment designed to stimulate the vestibular and proprioceptive systems – balance and receptor areas in the body – that are crucial for children’s physical and sensory development, especially for students with sensory processing differences.

 

That includes teeter-totters, balance beams, tunnel crawls, climbing walls, swings of all kinds, crash pads, spinners, and more – all installed on a rubberized surface to allow for wheelchair mobility and safe play.

 

“It’s an inclusive playground for all students of all ability levels,” Berkeley County school superintendent Dr. Anthony Dixon said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Students wanted to help others, and now we’re watching that vision come to life.”

 

And it may not stop at DIS.

 

Dixon said, “Our students are hearing about these positive opportunities to make a difference, and they are latching onto it. Other schools want to replicate this, which will create more partnerships and more opportunities to build playgrounds like this for all of our students.”

 

For Principal Blanchard, who helped guide the student council through the process, seeing the finished playground was deeply meaningful.

 

“We are so blessed that Josh Whitley and county council supported the initiative for us to create a more inclusive play space for our students,” she said. “The items selected were recommended as pieces that have already been proven to be popular play structures and which allow for vestibular and proprioceptive input.”

 

Beyond the sensory design and equipment specs, Blanchard emphasized the heart of the project.

 

“This is the culmination of a lot of hard work. It’s representative of students’ voices being raised in a positive way,” she said.

 

“We tell the kids all the time: you have a dream, share it. You’re going to find that many people will come alongside you to help put feet to your dreams, and that’s exactly what this represents.”

 

As new and returning DIS students step onto campus for the first time this school year, they’ll also be stepping into a new kind of inclusive play area, with the hope that nobody gets left behind.

 

“Everybody had joy in their hearts working on this project,” Whitley said. “The facilities, the school – it’s just a tremendous group of adults who empowered students to get this done. It’s pretty incredible.”

 

And for the children, it’s a daily reminder to dream big and speak up, and they just might change the world – or at least, the playground.