04-13-2023 Howard Magazine - Flipbook - Page 30
Jamilah Sultan Newman holds hands with her son Jasim Newton as they head for the
slides at“Laura’s Place”at Blandair Regional Park.
limited verbal skills but who can point to where
they want to play.
“The board is similar to what she has on her
iPad,” Stettner said. “But having it there for all
to see is a great idea because it shows others
how autistic kids can communicate.”
Weekday afternoons are Talia’s favorite time
to visit; the playground is quieter then, her
father said. But that may change as word of
Schooley Mill’s face-lift spreads.
All told, Stettner said, the recreation area is “a
hidden gem that most people don’t know about.
It’s a playground with different ‘feel-good’
stimulations which help [autistic children] feel
normal. Kids with disabilities want to play like
everyone else, and the opportunity to do that
means a lot.”
Talia, who has two older siblings, attends
the Gateway School in Baltimore, said her
father, who is deputy director for policy at the
U.S. Department of Labor and vice president
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| Spring 2023 | howardmagazine.com
of the Howard County Autism Society. The
county’s move to upgrade its play areas — an
afterthought, perhaps, in other regions —
speaks for its resolve, he said.
“This community has a deserved reputation
as a place where those with disabilities are
welcome, from cafes to grocery stores to gyms,
and a lot of people relocate here because of
that,” Stettner said. “We’ve come a long way
in making our country truly inclusive. But it
has been a relatively recent journey, in just the
last 40 years. We’ve made a lot of progress, but
there’s still a long way to go.”
How do other disabled kids rate the
playgrounds? Recently, after a two-hour
evening romp at Blandair Regional Park near
his home in Columbia, Jasim Newton tugged
at his mother’s sleeve.
‘Mommy, it’s dark,” the 4-year-old said. “Can
you make the sun come back?”
“He wanted to stay longer,” Jamilah Sultan
Newman said. For Jasim, who is autistic, the
site is a sensory paradise and a haven.
At age 2, her son was diagnosed with autism,
Sultan Newman said:
“He did a lot of repeating of things, like
phrases from shows he watched on TV. And
when asked a question, he’d repeat it back to
you.”
Their lives changed that day.
“Like a lot of parents, I was overwhelmed,
looking for resources,” she said. One was the
Howard County Autism Society, a leader in
supporting inclusive playgrounds like the one
at Blandair Park.
Fully fenced and double-gated, the freerange playground, called “Laura’s Place,” boasts
unique swings, slides and rides on which one