Amy Barzach

Amy is the founder and chief inspiration officer for Boundless Playgrounds, as well as a speaker, author and certified dream coach.

If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...

Imagine playgrounds where children, with and without disabilities, can play and learn together. Playgrounds where children's common experiences and shared joy make a more lasting impression than their different abilities. The heart-breaking reality, however, for one little girl I saw in her wheelchair sadly watching other children play on a playground she couldn't get to or on - and for more than five million children with disabilities in America is that all too often they are actually restricted from play. They can look from the outside... and wonder, wish and yearn...but never actually play. Far too many children sit on the sidelines...never knowing what it is like to swing, slide or build sandcastles with friends. It doesn't have to be this way and I have dedicated the last 12 years of my life working towards a vision of a world where everyone is welcomed and empowered to contribute, in part because as children they grew up playing and learning with children with different abilities.

A beautiful little girl in a wheelchair sadly watching everyone else play on a playground is a memory that still haunts me. Her little chin quivered as she tried to hold back her tears. As I sat there with my baby Jonathan, who was healthy at that time, while my older son Daniel frolicked on the playground that was out of her reach, I wondered why playgrounds couldn't be for children like her. If anything was possible, shouldn't playgrounds be for everyone? I tried to imagine all of the things this little girl, and other children with and without disabilities, could do in a playground that welcomed and empowered everyone - starting with racing to the top of the highest play deck so everyone could be king or queen of the hill.

A few months later, my son Jonathan suddenly couldn't hold his head up. Weeks of testing and uncertainly led to a diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative motor neuron disease. Because Jonathan had been healthy at birth, doctors didn't think he had the kind that killed children before their 2nd birthday. Over the next few months we forgot about the little girl in the wheelchair while we tried to do everything in our power to create the best possible life for Jonathan - our little man with a weakening body but twinkling blue 'old soul' eyes that made you think he knew the secrets of the universe.

He stopped breathing for the first time at Thanksgiving and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. When they changed his diagnosis to terminal just before Christmas, we were devastated. A hospice counselor helped us learn how to let go, make memories and think about channeling our despair - she suggested we think about a project we could do in Jonathan's honor and inspired us to come up with the idea while he was still with us. We immediately thought of the little girl in the wheelchair in the park. In an interesting irony, Jonathan would have needed a wheelchair if he'd had a chance to grow up We imagined that in Jonathan's dreams, he would have wanted playgrounds to be places where everyone could play, learn and celebrate life together.

To complete our vision of what we wanted to create in Jonathan's honor (and within a very short time - his memory), we asked ourselves, 'who cares' - that little girl of course and her family. Then we asked 'who else might care?' - and we thought about teachers, other children, community leaders, doctors, government officials, service clubs, people who cared about inclusion and justice.... We invited people from all of these sectors and more to join our 'dream team' and the collective vision that resulted represented the hearts of all of us. To be sure that children were included we also held 'Dreaming and Design Parties' where children with and without disabilities could show us their dreams with Play-Doh, crayons and other tools. We even challenged them with a Mr. Potato Head on wheels and asked the children who were participating to imagine a playground where Mr. Potato Head in his scooter (wheelchair) could play too. For some of the children with physical disabilities who had been left on the sidelines for too long, Mr. Potato Head helped them see what could be possible. This was a simple way to help them let go of their limiting belief that playgrounds weren't for children like them. It is hard to believe that so young in life, so many children could have already learned to give up their dreams.

How might one build an inclusive community playground like this? I envisioned teams of dozens of volunteers. Ultimately more than 1,000 volunteers came together over a 4 week period to do a barn raising to make Jonathan's dream come true.

Within hours of its opening on October 26, 1996, I wondered how many more children like that little girl I had seen on the sidelines sadly watching everyone else play were waiting for their chance to play and how we could let more people know about this special playground. Two weeks later, my husband came home from a business trip. The phone range and it was Lena from Time magazine. He said "I don't want to buy any magazines, thank you" and hung up. She called right back and said, "I'm not selling anything, I just want to write an article about your playground." Within hours of the publication of the magazine (December 1996), the phone calls started from people all over America who wanted to learn how they could build a playground like it for the children in their communities. I started volunteering 5, 10, 15, 20 hours a week and this was all I wanted to do. After Jonathan's death on January 5, 1995, the days were difficult, the nights were worse and the morning only brought more days. All I wanted to do and what got me out of bed in the morning was the idea of helping communities build playgrounds where everyone celebrate life together.

I imagined a national resource center that would give people tools and encouragement. I knew it was possible and that when someone, anyone could articulate a vision for what they wanted to accomplish for their community, the power of that vision would unleash the power of the universe and as a result inspire the people and resources needed. I could see this clearly in my mind. I didn't know exactly how to make this but I never doubted that there must be a way. I started telling people about what I called 'Jonathan's boundless dreams'.

One year later, I was working with a community in Massachusetts that was trying to create their own inclusive playground. They had raised every penny they could through bake sales and car washes, and were getting discouraged. On their behalf, I wrote to companies in the region telling that that this very worthy community needed $25,000 more to be able to realize their dream. The toy company, Hasbro, was the first to respond. When they called to say they were awarding the whole $25,000 needed, I was ecstatic. Then they asked me what I was doing and what I what I loved about it. I said "That's easy it's helping people translate their passion into places where everyone can play." Then they asked what I had been thinking and dreaming about for months - "Have you every thought about starting a national nonprofit organization to do this?" I sighed and said, "In my dreams!" I was encouraged to recruit a board, write a business plan, legally incorporate, apply for tax exempt status and submit a proposal. When they told me the deadline, I got goose bumps - it was April 1 - what would have been Jonathan's 4th birthday. In a wonderful 'coincidence, I met a lawyer from Updike, Kelly and Spellacy who told me this idea should be a national nonprofit and gave me his business card as he offered to have his law firm donate the needed legal services. The very generous three year grant Hasbro awarded took Boundless Playgrounds from a grass roots organization operating out of a shoe box in my house to a true nonprofit organization, and helped 24 communities create their own inclusive playgrounds.

The playground built in Jonathan's memory celebrated its 10th anniversary in October 1996. Boundless Playgrounds, the nonprofit organization I founded in 1997 with a passionate team of parents and professionals, is now known as the first national nonprofit dedicated to opening the world of play to children of all abilities. When Boundless Playgrounds celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2007, its staff and volunteers had already raised millions of dollars and helped more than 100 communities in 20+ states create their own BoundlessTM playgrounds. My and Boundless Playgrounds vision is that by 2020, people wouldn't think of building playgrounds that segregate children with disabilities and that of course, all new playgrounds are inclusive. Beyond that I can picture that the cure for cancer is found by a child who has autism who becomes a research scientist after growing up playing and learning with children with different abilities - because he thinks in a different way than many other people do, he connects the dots and is the one to find the cure.

More than one hundred playgrounds in Boundless Playgrounds first ten years is a great start, yet so many children are still sitting on the sidelines longing to play and many people remain unaware of the need or the fact that this is a problem that can be solved. As the founding executive director of Boundless Playgrounds, and now its Chief Inspiration Officer, I want to ensure that children and adults, with and without disabilities, can experience the fun and learning that playgrounds offer, and beyond that help people create more inclusive communities, one playground at a time.

Most of us don't face physical barriers in our day-to-day lives. Yet too often we live with other kinds of less obvious barriers that hold us back from finding and realizing our dreams. We are successful at many things but sense that something is missing. All too often, it is our passion. Somehow we've lost ourselves on the way to becoming adults. Observe children at play and you'll discover an innate sense of joy and a passionate celebration of life. How often do you feel like this? For children, passion comes naturally for adults, passion can be a decision, a gift we can choose to give ourselves. Without passion and all it encompasses, our lives will never be all that we want them to be.

Finding your passion starts with paying attention and giving your self permission to take care of yourself. The clues to my passion and yours are always right there, even though sometimes we just can't see them. Too often, too many of us are sleepwalking through life. I certainly was - until the death of my son forced me to wake up. You don't have to wait for tragedy to strike to wake up and find your passion. Shine a light on your dreams. Open your eyes to your passion. It is actually easier than any of us think. Pay attention to the big and little things that energize you. What gives you joy? What makes you happy? And equally as important what doesn't. If you respect them, your feelings are like a high tech GPS system for navigating your life. You can "start living your own boundless life". It is your turn now.

Feel free to contact me at amy@boundlessplaygrounds.org. More information about my passion is available at www.boundlessplaygrounds.org.

© 2008 Amy Jaffe Barzach, www.boundlessplaygrounds.org