This thesis examines the concepts of accessibility and ability-based design in a playground context and takes a participatory approach to product development. The research focuses on finding out the needs and experiences of physically disabled children, and involving them in the design process of playground equipment. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how consultation and co-design with physically disabled children can assist the development of accessible and inclusive playground equipment and to examine what kind of a role disabled children can have in identifying customer needs which in turn could lead to better and more versatile products for the majority of children as well.This thesis provides a review of relevant literature concentrating on the key areas of play, research on the accessibility of play spaces, prominent inclusive design approaches, participatory design, and lead user theory. It aims to find answers to the following questions: How to design an accessible playground together with children? What is an accessible and playable piece of playground equipment like? Can physically disabled children have a key role in identifying latent customer needs? And will designing for their needs result in better design for all? It also aims to find solutions on how to promote and support ability. The goal of this thesis is to report the process and benefits of involving special needs children in the design process of accessible playground equipment and to develop an accessible playground equipment concept based on the insights found during the process.The findings of this thesis indicate that there is no need for specialized playground equipment intended for disabled children. Instead there is a need for playground equipment that is useable and playable by children of any age and ability, equipment thatgives the opportunity to develop skills independently and supports each child to reach their full potential. The parents of able-bodied children can also have restricted mobility or eyesight and can face difficulties in operating in existing playgrounds. All of the users of playgrounds can suffer from situational disability and benefit from equipment designed to support different levels of ability.Physically disabled children can be seen as having a major role in this product development process. Designing for their needs and abilities resulted in finding novel perspectives on how to design playground equipment. The needs of extraordinary users, physically disabled users in this case, can be considered the same as the needs ordinary users face situationally. Taking a top down approach to design and designing for physically disabled children resulted in a product concept that serves a wider range of users with different abilities. Thus designers should move away from designing for disabled or able-bodied and focus on designing for a range of abilities instead. Focusing on abilities enables designing solutions that support different levels of ability and do not require adaptation, leading to more mainstream products for a wider market. Products accepted by the mainstream market cannot be seen as stigmatizing. Both physically disabled children and able-bodied children tested the playground equipment concept in evaluation workshops. All of the children were excited about the concept regardless of their abilities and felt that it was designed for them.
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