Stefani Busansky, founder of the Freedom Playground Foundation, returned to Auburn for the first time in 20 years as part of her organization's Wheel-A-Thon 2010 road trip.
Auburn is part of the third stop on her itinerary.
"This was more of just a nostalgic [trip]," Busansky said.
Busansky, Auburn alumna, visited her alma mater last Thursday with her two children, Claire, 6, and Sarah, 11.
Sarah, who has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair, was the inspiration behind the foundation, which works to design outdoor spaces that are inclusive of people of all physical abilities.
"Our main goal is just to promote and encourage people to be more inclusive in their design of outdoor spaces," Stefani said. "Be open-minded that people of all abilities want to be outside and do sports and recreation just like everyone else."
The Wheel-A-Thon, which usually takes place in Busansky's current residence of Tampa, Fla., and is used to promote awareness of the foundation's goals, took to the road this year for the first time.
"This year was different because Sarah has to go to an evaluation at the Gillette Children's Hospital," Busansky said.
She and her daughters planned to stop at various cities and tourist attractions on their way to Minnesota and evaluate playground inclusiveness while having fun as a family.
Along the way, they will be blogging about their experiences and evaluations of each location.
Locations exhibiting inclusiveness are awarded a "Roll Model" award, and locations that could work on their inclusiveness are assigned a "Bad Biscuit."
The rating process is informal, Busansky said.
"I think criteria is subjective because what is accessible for one person might not be for another," she said.
Sarah said the family does not plan to confront owners of "Bad Biscuit" locations.
"I think it'll make them probably feel bad if we reported it to them in a negative way," she said.
Busansky said a lot of confusion comes from a misunderstanding of inclusion.
"I think that people also confuse accessibility with inclusion," Busansky said. "Accessibility is just getting into a place; inclusion, you feel welcome and part of whatever is happening."
Sarah said she believes inclusive design is an important contribution to society.
"The good thing about that is that people with physical disabilities can get anywhere they want to go, not just with power chairs, but with manual chairs," she said. "And it is important."
Claire said she is just happy that, thanks to the work of her mother and the Freedom Playground Foundation, her sister is able to participate with her in outdoor activities.
"I like my sister playing with me," she said.
Although Busansky said this year's trip to Auburn was more for fun than work, she hopes to return in the future to speak to landscape architecture students about inclusive design.
"The root of the problem is it's not taught in landscape architecture schools," she said. "My ultimate goal would be to come back to Auburn and just talk to the students. You can change this by just changing the pathways and the way you design things. It's an easy fix."
The Busansky's and her family's travels can be followed online through freedomplayground.org.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
