LOVE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS… OR BUILD AN INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND By: Victoria Babb, Play 4 All Campaign, Community Resource Manager It started with a 4-year-old boy who quickly recognized that typical playgrounds would not allow him to play alongside his older brother. Asher Hyleman asked his mother why his brother Silas was sitting on the bench aside his walker. Stephanie Hyleman did not have an answer to her son’s question, but her heart ached as she looked into his eyes glossed over with tears. She too knew the harsh reality. Playgrounds deemed ADA compliant still exclude children like her son. “It was a divine calling,” said Stephanie. On that very day, she was determined to create an inclusive play space so all children could play together. After securing land and the commitment from Cherokee County Parks to maintain the public space and provide insurance for the park once it was constructed, the Hyleman family assembled their community action team to make the vision a reality. SILAS Steps, a 501c3 organization, was born, and then along came the design for Hyleman’s Humble Inclusive Playground. The design is based on research provided by PlayCore, Seven Principles of Inclusive Design. Cunningham Recreation’s community resource division, Play 4 ALL, worked
On July 11, 2021, a beautiful summer day in Gaffney, South Carolina, both Silas and his little brother Asher cut the ribbon to Cherokee County’s very first inclusive playground. As the large crowd watched, Silas wheeled his walker onto the spongy surfacing and up the ramped structures with ease with brother Asher by his side. Designed to be the “jewel” of Gaffney and a regional destination play space, Hyleman’s Humble Playground has set a new standard of inclusive placemaking. Stephanie Hyleman knew that mobilizing the necessary funds was not going to be easy, particularly when the global pandemic hit. It was her tenacity and relentless spirit that continued to drive the efforts forward. “I will not rest until this project is complete,” she would tell community partners. closely with the project guiding their fundraising efforts. Philanthropic support ranged from gifts of coins and dollars shaken out of Silas’ and Asher’s piggy banks to very large support from area private foundations. In-kind services and materials were generously given along with hundreds of hours provided by a group of dedicated volunteers.
22 SOUTH CAROLINA Recreation and Parks • www.scrpa.org
Matshona Dhilwayo has said, “If you can’t move a mountain by faith, move it by carrying away stone by stone.” No doubt that with each stone carried away, and with each passing day – a mountain was moved. And on opening day when Asher was asked about what it felt like to move that mountain, he replied with happy tears in his eyes and a smile across his face, “I knew we could do it.”
