Recess for Everyone

Each day Annah Abetti Korpi picked up her son, Isidoro, from school in Albany, Ohio, she bristled at the sight of the school’s playground. Steps leading up to slides, mulch-covered ground and a single wheelchair entry ramp meant there were few options for her son to play. There was only one piece of equipment he could use: a lone swing adapted to support a child’s back.  

Isidoro was born with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Now 7 years old, he is nonverbal and unable to climb up steps. He uses a wheelchair, which he can’t easily maneuver through the playground mulch, limiting his interactions with other children at Alexander Elementary School.  

“If there were no books in the library for a kid or no seat for a child in a cafeteria, we would not be OK with that,” Korpi ’03 says. “But for some reason, on a playground, people are OK with there being nothing for children with disabilities to do. … And I’m not sure why.” 

According to the Ohio Department of Education, nearly 20% of students in Isidoro’s school district have a disability. However, Alexander Elementary’s playground, which is open to the public outside of school hours, is largely inaccessible for many of those students.  

This is the status quo at schools nationwide, Korpi says, despite the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, which addresses some accessibility issues but not all.

This see-saw has high-back seats and a center saucer, which can accommodate kids of all abilities, including those who use mobility devices, such as wheelchairs. Courtesy of GameTime

So Korpi took action. She partnered with the mom of another student with disabilities and raised nearly $365,000 to finance the initial phases of a playground renovation at Alexander Elementary. Construction began in June 2024 with the addition of rubber surfacing and ramps to a large portion of the playground equipment. But beyond making equipment accessible, Korpi wants to ensure that play is inclusive. The renovation project’s wish list includes wheelchair-friendly spinners, sensory activity panels that encourage cognitive development, musical chimes and also quiet areas for children who need a break from noise. 

“The next step,” Korpi says, “is asking, ‘How can we make this possible for other schools? How can we create funding, and how can we enforce national guidelines for accessibility?’” 

Korpi says she never envisioned herself leading a renovation like this. After studying religion and international studies at Northwestern, she researched conflict resolution in Amman, Jordan, taught English at Al Yamamah University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and co-owned a language school in Codogno, Italy. She returned to the U.S. in 2016, after becoming pregnant with Isidoro.  

But Korpi has found that the skills she learned at Northwestern, from writing papers to balancing extracurriculars, as well as her experiences in teaching and conflict resolution, have been invaluable as she learns the ropes of community work.  

“College is about becoming a better human and a better communicator for all the roles that we need to play in life,” Korpi says. “Not only an employee, but a parent, an advocate, a neighbor.”