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\"This book reviews international research into the barriers to play for children with disabilities from a multidisciplinary perspective. The focus is upon barriers beyond the minds and bodies of individual children, within 'disabling' environments. The book adopts a rights-based perspective. Play is vital for child development, but the right to and value of play for the sake of play--for fun and enjoyment--must not be forgotten, especially for children with disabilities.\"--Page [4] of cover.

The aim of this study was to describe and gain more knowledge of the phenomenon of the inner child, reflected in events during childhood experienced by older persons. Thirteen older persons aged 70 to 91 years old were interviewed. A hermeneutical phenomenological analysis of the data revealed two main themes: the inner child becomes visible and the inner child's presence through life. The participants' narratives showed that their understanding of the experiences included both positive and negative feelings, as well as ways to be creative, in which the inner child became visible. The participants' experiences indicated that the inner child was present throughout the lifespan, was found in challenges that occurred in life, and could turn something bad into something good. However, the presence of the inner child could also be a source for development throughout life and could interfere with the person. The findings from this study point to older persons' need to be recognized, acknowledged, and understood as a unique person living his or her own life. In addition, dimensions of well-being such as feeling safe, loved, supported, and creating space for fantasy and possibilities can be compared to the physical, mental, social, and existential dimensions of well-being found in WHO surveys and definitions of health. This calls for a holistic approach when caring for older persons.

Outdoor environments for children are important sites for social inclusion and play. In the European context, outdoor play provision is typically governed by regional or national policy and informed by international conventions that specifically state that inclusive environments must be made available for all children for their rights to be met. Specifically, universal design is proposed as a way to achieve this goal. However, little is known about national play policy in general, nor the extent to which universal design informs local play provision. This paper focuses on a review of play policy and guidelines carried out in 18 European countries and a national universal design study in Ireland in 2018. Findings identified an overall lack of play policy internationally, and when policy exists, universal design is under-represented. The potential application of the seven principles of universal design to playgrounds is discussed alongside play value principles to maximize successful playspace design. Further exploration of the child's voice in designing for play is warranted to strengthen socio-spatial inclusion and diminish the poverty of experience that many children with disabilities experience in their communities.

Outdoor environments for children are important sites for social inclusion and play. In the European context, outdoor play provision is typically governed by regional or national policy and informed by international conventions that specifically state that inclusive environments must be made available for all children for their rights to be met. Specifically, universal design is proposed as a way to achieve this goal. However, little is known about national play policy in general, nor the extent to which universal design informs local play provision. This paper focuses on a review of play policy and guidelines carried out in 18 European countries and a national universal design study in Ireland in 2018. Findings identified an overall lack of play policy internationally, and when policy exists, universal design is under-represented. The potential application of the seven principles of universal design to playgrounds is discussed alongside play value principles to maximize successful playspace design. Further exploration of the child's voice in designing for play is warranted to strengthen socio-spatial inclusion and diminish the poverty of experience that many children with disabilities experience in their communities.

Occupational injustice refers to a setting or situations that can restrict a person in performing an occupation. Because a playground is a setting that can restrict children with disabilities from the occupation of playing, this paper frames playground accessibility in terms of occupational justice. This study interviewed 18 parents of children with disabilities about their children's experiences with playgrounds. Examining playgrounds from an occupational justice perspective can be a means to advocate for accessible playgrounds as a first step towards helping children with disabilities participate in play activities in this environment.

For children, meaningful participation in community life includes being able to access places for play. Such community playspaces are potentially important for all children, including those with disabilities. Yet, children are rarely asked for their views on the design of playspaces, which can further contribute to exclusionary practices and undermine children’s rights to share their views on matters that affect them. In this scoping review, we aim to analyze guidelines and identify strategies for supporting children’s participation rights when planning public playspaces. Guidelines are practical tools used by local policymakers when creating community playspaces, which are important sites for children’s outdoor play. In total, forty-two guidelines were identified that addressed children’s participation rights, along with community involvement. Qualitative evidence synthesis with a “best fit” framework approach was used, informed by Lundy’s model of children’s participation. The findings revealed the importance of initial community involvement as a critical prerequisite. Strategies for children’s participation mostly concerned “space and voice” (for children of diverse abilities), with little attention paid to giving their views due weight. This evidence shows that there is a significant gap in knowledge surrounding policy development and implementation to support adults and children to cooperate equally in designing playspaces. Future directions for research in children’s participation require a focus on combined community–children participation approaches in public playspace design. Such work could strengthen and facilitate the role of adults as bearers of the duty to implement the rights of children. This review generated inclusive strategies in planning public playspaces, which could support local policymakers in this complex multi-layered process.

Irish Traveller children, an ethnic indigenous minoritized community in Ireland are identified in Ireland’s play policy as at higher risk of exclusion from realising their right to play, alongside a reported absence of research on indigenous children’s play. This scoping review aimed to identify the breadth and scope of available research on representations of Irish Traveller children’s play and the factors influencing play opportunities. Applying the updated Joanna Briggs Institute methodological guidance, a systematic search was completed of nine databases. Thirty-five peer reviewed studies met the inclusion criteria, descriptive study information was charted and summarised and enabling and restricting factors influencing Irish Traveller children’s play were identified using an existing conceptual model. The scoping review findings revealed a limited focus within research on Irish Traveller children’s play. Included studies however, provided evidence of; the importance of feeling a sense of belonging and safety to enable Irish Traveller children’s access to preferred play opportunities, involving real life activities, physical play outdoors and play with others; Irish Traveller parents value and facilitation of play; and the significant restricting influence of racism on Irish Traveller children’s play .Limited knowledge on Irish Traveller children’s own perspectives on play and the need to address racism as a restricting influence on play in school and community environments are considered in relation to practice and further research. Discourses representing Irish Traveller children as marginalised, were problematized as reflective of culturist assumptions, and a shift towards understanding the situated nature of Irish Traveller children’s play, as a capability is proposed. Highlights Despite a limited focus within existing research on play, diverse representations of Irish Traveller children’s play and multiple enabling and restricting factors were identified from included studies. Based on the reviewed literature, racism was identified as a significant restricting factor influencing Irish Traveller children’s access to play opportunities intersecting with factors at societal, environmental, role of others and individual levels. Further research is needed to develop knowledge and understanding of Irish Traveller children’s own understanding of play and play practices within schoolyard settings to support a realisation of play rights.

Navigation is largely mediated by vision. [...]visual impairments (i.e., blindness or low vision) limit this ability (Brouwer, Sadlo, Winding, & Hanneman, 2008), which can lead to a decreased quality of life (Nyman, Dibb, Bridget, & Gosney, 2012). Since it is an optical system, rather than an ultrasonic system as is often utilized, it can measure large distances with high accuracy and a small beam spread, which is of importance in this case since one intended application is to determine direction and distance of specific landmarks such as door openings, buildings, and other objects. [...]they needed to find their way back to the entrance door. Limitations of our study include the small number of participants and only including senior citizens. [...]the training periods were short, and tests were performed only in unfamiliar environments.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe conceptions of feasibility of a haptic navigation system for persons with a visual impairment (VI). Design/methodology/approach – Six persons with a VI who were white cane users were tasked with traversing a predetermined route in a corridor environment using the haptic navigation system. To see whether white cane experience translated to using the system, the participants received no prior training. The procedures were video-recorded, and the participants were interviewed about their conceptions of using the system. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis, where inductively generated codes that emerged from the data were clustered together and formulated into categories. Findings – The participants quickly figured out how to use the system, and soon adopted their own usage technique. Despite this, locating objects was difficult. The interviews highlighted the desire to be able to feel at a distance, with several scenarios presented to illustrate current problems. The participants noted that their previous white cane experience helped, but that it nevertheless would take a lot of practice to master using this system. The potential for the device to increase security in unfamiliar environments was mentioned. Practical problems with the prototype were also discussed, notably the lack of auditory feedback. Originality/value – One novel aspect of this field trial is the way it was carried out. Prior training was intentionally not provided, which means that the findings reflect immediate user experiences. The findings confirm the value of being able to perceive things beyond the range of the white cane; at the same time, the participants expressed concerns about that ability. Another key feature is that the prototype should be seen as a navigation aid rather than an obstacle avoidance device, despite the interaction similarities with the white cane. As such, the intent is not to replace the white cane as a primary means of detecting obstacles.