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In the United States, his father built a huge amusement park for his autistic daughter. A PHOTO

'05.08.2017'

Source: with the BBC

Texas resident Gordon Hartman did an incredibly good deed - he built a huge amusement park for people with disabilities.

The idea of ​​creating a place where adults and children could have a rest came to his mind ten years ago, writes with the BBC.

One day he went with his family to swim in the pool and suddenly realized that no one wanted to play with his 12-year-old daughter Morgan. She wanted to befriend someone while swimming in the pool, but the children quickly got out of the water. Morgan has a form of autism, so her mind is like a five-year-old child. This incident forced Father Morgan to make an unusual decision.

“Morgan is an amazing young lady. When you meet her, she always smiles or tries to hug you, ”he says.

Hartman and his wife Maggie asked other parents where they could take their daughter, so that she felt comfortable and could play with other children.

"We realized that such a place simply does not exist."

Therefore, in 2007, Gordon decided to create it with his own hands. The former realtor sold his business back in 2005 and founded the Gordon Hartman Family Foundation, a charitable organization that helps people with disabilities. Then he thought about building "the world's first amusement park, accessible to everyone."

“We wanted to create a theme park where absolutely anyone could do everything, where people with disabilities and ordinary people could play,” says Hartman.

Before starting the construction of the park, Gordon consulted with doctors, therapists, and parents of children. He found out what objects should be there.

The park was built on a 25 acre (10 hectare) site of an abandoned quarry in San Antonio, Texas. The park, which Hartman named after his daughter, "Morgan," the park cost $ 34 million and was opened in 2010. Attractions include a Ferris wheel, swing, playground, miniature train and more.

Visitors often say to Hartman that thanks to him, they were able to visit such rides for the first time.

The park also has a carousel on which people can ride in wheelchairs. The carousel rotates, moving up and down, the figures of different animals are mounted on it.

Since its opening, the Morgan Wonderland Park has been visited by over a million visitors from 67 countries and all 50 American states. A third of the visitors are people with disabilities and developmental disabilities. For them, the entrance to the park is free.

“Every year we open the park knowing that we’ll lose more than a million dollars, and we have to recover that money through fundraising and our partners,” says Hartman.

The park expanded this year with the opening of Morgan Island of Inspiration, an aquatic amusement park.

“There were few visitors in July because the wheelchairs were quickly hot in the sun. So we decided to create a water park nearby, ”explains Gordon.

The island uses warm water that helps visitors with muscle problems. Water-proof motorized wheelchairs work with compressed air. It is noted that the construction of the water park cost 17 million dollars.

“Yesterday a man came up to me on the Island of Inspiration and shook my hand. He pointed to his disabled son and began to cry. He said that his child had never had the opportunity to play in the water before, ”says Gordon Hartman.

According to him, three quarters of the park's visitors are healthy people, and the park itself affects people exactly the way he wanted.

“He helps people understand that we are all different in some way, but in fact the same. I saw a girl in a chair playing with another girl without special needs. And that's cool, ”he says.

Gordon Hartman is not going to build new amusement parks, despite hundreds of letters from people who would like such a park to appear in their area. Now Hartman wants to open special educational centers for disabled teenagers in San Antonio.

“I know that many organizations are trying to build something like our Morgan Wonderland, and we will continue to work with them.”

Gordon continues to take his daughter Morgan for a walk and play in the park, she is now in it a kind of celebrity.

“When she comes, she's like a rock star. People want to talk to her and take pictures, ”he shares.

Morgan is now 23, her condition is much better, she communicates more.

“Morgan knows that the park is named after her, but I don’t think that she realizes what this park really means and how it changes human lives,” summed up the girl's father.

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