Page 86 - San Angelo

Unidad Park is always full of activity and exuberance. While its structures are no longer new, they are just as interesting to the latest generation of youngsters as they were when frst built. Its origins, however, are not typical. The park’s development is a testament to this community’s love for children and to the strong drive of local individuals and foundations to provide a playful haven for children with any type of disabilities. Karl Wehner, a San Angelo pediatrician, had been gifted a tract of undeveloped

Neighborhood children once referred to it as “Sticker Park.” The strip of property on College Hills Boulevard once held run-down playground

equipment that burned little children’s legs when they used the slide or hands when they gripped the metal chains of the swing set. It is now named Karen Stribling Unidad Park and is flled daily with little ones and their parents. Although the park was designed to be useful to children with disabilities, its appeal is universal and parents love it as much as their kids.

land on busy Sherwood Way. A donor imagined that it might be appropriate for a park and asked Dr. Wehner what he thought about the possibility. Dr. Wehner had many patients living with various levels of disability. He noticed there were no outdoor play areas that were accessible to children with special needs. “They needed someplace to go,” he remembers. Dr. Wehner had once considered practicing physical medicine, which is a rehabilitation specialty. He did an internship at the Texas Institute for

Rehabilitation and Texas Institute for Rehabilitation Research (TIRR) and was attracted to the work. “I was amazed at the human spirit,” he says to explain his level of interest. But ultimately his juvenile patients won him over and he entered a pediatrics residency instead. Once he was approached about the possibilities for a piece of undeveloped land, he started dreaming big. A playground for children with disabilities seemed to be what was lacking for his patients, as well as typically-developing