As of: January 31, 2024, 6:00 a.m
By: Jana Stabener
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German cities “do not yet care enough about inclusive offers for children,” says the social association VdK Germany.
A new standard should help.
Svenja Gluth is grinning from ear to ear as she pushes the carousel at the Uncle Rudi playground in Hamburg.
This is not possible everywhere.
“I have never seen such a great inclusive playground,” says the 30-year-old wheelchair user in an Instagram video.
Here she was really able to use every piece of play equipment.
“There should definitely be many more inclusive playgrounds like this,” says Gluth, and regrets that her daughter wasn’t there that day.
Other users in the comments under their video also think that there are far too few inclusive playgrounds.
But is that true?
BuzzFeed News Germany,
a portal from Ippen.Media, took a closer look.
Subscribe to our channels: The best of BuzzFeed Germany is now also available on WhatsApp and Telegram.
Including playgrounds What is it like in twelve major German cities?
BuzzFeed News Germany
asks twelve major German cities how many inclusive playgrounds they have, how many are being planned and what is stopping them from building more inclusive playgrounds.
Most of them answer us evasively or, like Hannover, state that they do not include “explicitly inclusive playgrounds”.
Frankfurt, Munich and Kiel have emphasized that they have been planning playgrounds with “inclusive elements” for years.
Bremen says that 90 percent of the playgrounds have “an element of accessibility”.
Cologne is proud of 99 percent and Dresden of the fact that all playgrounds have access for people with reduced mobility.
Only five cities give us three to four concrete examples of “inclusive playgrounds”, out of a total of 180 to 750. In addition to financing, the city primarily has a “space problem,” explains Erfurt.
How inclusive are Germany’s playgrounds?
The answer is sobering.
© IMAGO/Zoonar
There is also a problem with the definition of inclusivity: Berlin believes that the playground system is “already inclusive in character”.
Düsseldorf and Hamburg write that accessibility does not mean “that everyone can use every game offer equally”.
The carousel at the Uncle Rudi playground is not automatically included because children with balance problems cannot use it.
Dresden describes the Hamburg playground, which Svenja Gluth praises so much, as a “lighthouse project” that costs a lot of money and whose concept cannot be transferred to other playgrounds.
“So far, inclusion in playgrounds has not been a measurable factor,” criticizes the city.
Hopefully this will improve when a new DIN standard for inclusive playgrounds appears soon.
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VdK criticizes German cities – “they don’t care enough”
“The situation with inclusive playgrounds in Germany is not satisfactory,” says Verena Bentele, President of the social association VdK
BuzzFeed News Germany.
“
Statements such as that 99 percent of the playgrounds in Cologne are accessible to people with limited mobility are a null statement,” she says angrily.
The decisive factor is the usability of the playgrounds, not their accessibility.
German cities and municipalities “do not yet pay enough attention to inclusive offers for children”.
And that despite the fact that...
“Building such an infrastructure for children with disabilities is becoming increasingly important.”
“Now that the long overdue school inclusion is finally being pushed forward, children with disabilities are fortunately increasingly becoming part of mixed circles of friends.
And they need a place to play together,” says Bentele.
The situation with inclusive playgrounds in Germany is not satisfactory.
Verena Bentele, VdK President
“The reference to supposed problems with the measurability of inclusivity, as cited by the city of Dresden, is not clear to us as the VdK social association,” says Bentele
.
Article seven of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states that equal participation in public life for children with disabilities is “certified as human rights”.
From the VdK's point of view, there is no need to wait for new standards.
“The existing standards simply need to be consistently implemented.”
The problem is that many municipalities that create playgrounds still don’t know enough about how to implement these standards.
As public bodies, they are particularly bound by the convention.
“They have to live up to this responsibility,” demands Bentele.
How inclusive are Germany’s playgrounds?
The answer is sobering.
© Shotshop/IMAGO
Playgrounds aren’t the only places in need of improvement. Here are more things from everyday life that exclude people with disabilities
Including playgrounds: New DIN standard should provide a remedy
The playground inspector Ulrich Paulig has made it his mission to make Germany's playgrounds inclusive.
He is part of the team of experts that developed the new standard DIN/TS 18034-2
developed to make it easier for cities to check playgrounds for inclusivity.
It has been available since January 26, 2024, confirms a spokesman for the German Institute for Standardization (DIN).
So far, only a small percentage of all playgrounds in Germany are inclusive.
Even in the pioneering city of Nuremberg, the number of 300 publicly accessible playgrounds is in the low single-digit range.
According to Paulig, it is much more a question of concept and has less to do with space.
“Inclusive is like being pregnant,” explains the playground expert.
“There’s not a bit.”
Ulrich Paulig has made it his mission to make Germany's playgrounds inclusive.
© private
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“We have to move away from disabilities and look at abilities and skills”
Paulig is completely in his element as he pulls one of his 15 pairs of glasses for different visual impairments out of the desk drawer.
He holds it up in front of his computer's webcam.
The image of our video call suddenly becomes blurry.
“This is what ten percent of remaining vision looks like,” says Paulig, emphasizing how important contrasting colors are in playgrounds, for example.
“We have to move away from disabilities and look at abilities and skills,” demands Paulig at
BuzzFeed News Germany.
He hopes that the new standard will now make things easier for municipalities.
“We give cities a set of rules to check how inclusive a playground is in six stages,” he says.
“Inclusion must become a given.
We don't blame anyone according to the motto: Why didn't you.
But now there is a new norm, now there is an invitation to dance.
Now we have to dance too!”
Inclusive playgrounds “bring benefits for all of us”
Svenja Gluth finds it “unfortunate” that so few playgrounds in Germany are inclusive.
“It’s not just about the right of children with disabilities to play, but also about the opportunity for parents and grandparents with disabilities to enable their children to participate,” the wheelchair user tells
BuzzFeed News Germany.
Svenja Gluth (here with her daughter) advocates for accessibility - including in playgrounds.
© Svenja Gluth Instagram
Of course, not every playground can be easily converted.
However, especially when replacing old playground equipment or planning new ones, she expects cities to pay attention to inclusivity and thus enable the participation of all people.
“This brings benefits for all of us,” she is certain.
More on the topic: 9 problems that wheelchair users have when traveling