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Ask most parents and they’ll tell you that they’d do anything for their children. While that may be a sincere feeling in our hearts, “anything” doesn’t always translate in the practical world. In reality, we need material resources to make things move. Thankfully, Gordon Hartman, father of a daughter with special needs, had access to those resources, the experience, and the determination to put a smile on his daughter’s face.
His drive to create a space for her came when they went to a public pool and Gordon his daughter unable to make friends while there.
Gordon created the world’s first theme park for special needs kids.
Gordon’s daughter Morgan is autistic and was born with cognitive and other special needs, Upworthy reported. So after that family vacation, he began searching for a theme park that made accommodations for her needs. The place did not exist. So Gordon went about the work of creating it. That is the origin story of Morgan’s Wonderland, the world’s first ultra-accessible theme park, designed specifically for special needs kids. Located in San Antonio, Texas, Morgan’s Wonderland is designed for people with and without disabilities to be able to have fun together.
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The initial park cost $35 million.
“It’s a park for 100 percent of the people, not one for 90 or 80 percent of them, it’s for everybody, no matter how acute their special need may be,” Gordon told People. “That’s what my dream was.” That dream became a reality when the park opened in 2010, but it took years of sacrifice…