Magical Bridge Foundation today announced Apple, one of the California’s largest employers, will help fund the Magical Bridge Playground housed in Sunnyvale’s Fair Oaks Park.
Like Apple, Magical Bridge is committed to accessibility and inclusivity. With Apple’s support, Magical Bridge will create the Innovation Zone, a dynamic space within the Sunnyvale playground for people of all ages and abilities to meet, learn, explore, create and build new and diverse relationships. Every aspect of a Magical Bridge Playground is intentional and leading edge. The Innovation Zone lies at the heart of this concept.
“The dream to build magical spaces where people of all abilities can feel freedom of play has become a reality because companies like Apple and our other partners are so committed to this community, its residents and visitors,” Magical Bridge co-founder Olenka Villarreal said in a statement. “The joy is contagious. Magical Bridge Playgrounds are changing neighborhoods, cities, and soon, the country through truly inclusive play.”
The Sunnyvale location is the third Magical Bridge Playground, with a goal to open to the public in 2020. The Sunnyvale playground will be nestled in the 15.2-acre Fair Oaks Park, serving the city’s 150,000 residents and even more tourists visiting the family-friendly area renowned for its tech and academic giants. The original Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, established in 2015, serves 20,000 visitors a month.
“The city of Sunnyvale, and all who visit the new park, thank Apple for this generous gift to our community. In partnership with Magical Bridge Foundation, Sunnyvale is proud to be leading the path for innovation, creativity and inclusion for everyone,” shared Glenn Hendricks, Mayor of Sunnyvale, in a statement.
Magical Bridge Playgrounds are all mindfully designed to accomodate children and adults with a wide range of physical and cognitive abilities. One in five Americans lives with some form of disability and although radical cultural shifts have been made by the American Disabilities Act of 1990, public parks still do not adequately accommodate visitors who are autistic, cognitively challenged, visually or hearing impaired, physically limited or aging.
Foundation co-founder Olenka Villarreal saw an opportunity to change that, rallying nearly a decade of research, insights by inclusion specialists, and dedicated advocacy by community groups and nonprofit organizations. Generous corporate partners like Apple have been critical in breaking ground on Magical Bridge’s dynamic spaces made for everyone who wants to play.
Visit Magical Bridge Foundation for information about the playground and ways to support the project. If your company, foundation or community group would like to partner with Magical Bridge Foundation, contact Jill Asher at jill@magicalbridge.org.
Source: Magical Bridge Foundation
MacDailyNews Take: Also helps highlight that Apple’s commitment to accessibility is simply unmatched; light years ahead of would-be rivals.
SEE ALSO:
Apple holds Stevie Wonder concert on campus in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day – May 19, 2017
Apple wins kudos for accessibility and smart home tech empowering people with disabilities – May 18, 2017
Apple continues to lead in accessibility awareness and innovation – May 19, 2016
How a simple Apple feature is changing lives – July 28, 2015
How the Apple Watch is opening up new ways to communicate – May 20, 2015
You know, blind people can actually use touchscreens – January 29, 2015
iPad app brings Braille keyboard to blind users’ fingertips – January 24, 2015
Apple patent applications reveal In-App features, fingerprint scanning enrollment and accessibility inventions – July 31, 2014
OS X Mavericks: How to control your Mac with your voice – April 9, 2014
Can Apple help make hearing aids cool? – March 10, 2014
Apple files new patents relating to haptics, Thunderbolt, iSight and improved accessibility for the hearing impaired – August 23, 2012
Inside Apple’s OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: New iOS-style Accessibility – July 18, 2012
Stevie Wonder thanks Steve Jobs, praises Apple for iOS accessibility – September 15, 2011
Good news for music fans with vision loss: Apple adds accessibility features to iPod nano and iTunes – September 18, 2008
I love this gesture! For all my anti-social justice complaints against Apple/Tim Cook, to embrace this whole heartedly, maybe it means I’m a hypocrite?
No, I don’t think so, because they include everybody, not just the LGBT crowd.
Not really. I’m going to advocate for the devil here – please understand that this is great for those who get to access it.
It’s literally in the backyard of the 1% that now run the world. Not Detroit, not Oakland, but Sunnyvale. Maybe some of the kids of the nannies that care for the rich can go too, but this is for the kids of people that already have everything. Good for them, not so much for the rest…
Nice to see someone from Apple’s home nation work to support humane endeavors. Keep it up Apple, even if you are the exception.
… just eat shit and die, asshole.
It takes a certain type of person to say that to another human for expressing their opinion. If you are from Apple’s home nation, congratulations, you’ve done your patriotic duty for the day.
expression is incessant and pompous. That makes the hearers of said opinion weary. “America” isn’t a dirty word…go ahead and say it.
That’s an opinion that I do not share but go ahead enjoy your freedom of speech. I’ll be more than happy to directly refer to Apple’s home nation when MDN let’s me use the other words that I’ve used to describe Apple’s home nation or until Apple’s home nation returns to civilized behavior. Until that respect is returned and censorship is lifted I will continue the course.
Besides, I’d rather be incessant and pompous than be a citizen of a torturing terrorist nation, especially when someone totally fails to even make a comment about the topic at hand.