Author Spotlight
Caroline Wood
Pink was her favorite color. That’s why, after Corinth Elementary student Olivia Bloomfield’s unexpected passing in July, pink ribbons wrapped Leawood trees and fences around the rebuilt Corinth playground.
Growing up with congenital muscular dystrophy, Olivia faced many physical challenges, but didn’t let them keep her from making a difference. Since her passing before starting fifth grade at Corinth Elementary, her family and community honors her legacy by spreading inclusivity in the community — one of Olivia’s goals.
At 3 months old, Olivia didn’t meet the same physical milestones as the other children in daycare — she was very low-toned and less active — so her parents took her to the doctor where she was diagnosed. By 18 months, she was fully operating her own power wheelchair.
As early as 4 years old, Olivia was invested in improving her community, donating a communication device to a non-verbal child from money she raised at a lemonade stand. She loved to play outside, but many outdoor structures weren’t accessible to her. Corinth Elementary and the newly built Leawood City Park both had playground structures surrounded by mulch, forming an impenetrable barrier for Olivia as her wheelchair couldn’t ride over the chips. She was stuck on the outside, watching her friends play.
“It was such a disappointment to have a brand new playground built in your community and have it not work for your child,” Olivia’s mom, Sara Bloomfield, said.
Olivia went to a town hall meeting with Variety KC — a local nonprofit that supports children with disabilities — and spoke up about how the technically American-Disabilities-Act-compliant park was not accessible for her and other diabled children. After hearing Variety KC’s argument and her case, the city voted to redo the playground to make it actually inclusive.
“She just had such a tell-it-like-it-is personality,” Sara said. “She was very positively assertive. She would tell you, ‘This doesn’t work for me and here’s why,’ and she would do it with a smile on her face.”
Variety KC’s efforts and Olivia’s voice successfully convinced the Kansas City government to make an ordinance that all future playgrounds would be handicap-accessible.
“The best word to describe Olivia is extraordinary,” Olivia’s third and fourth grade teacher and East alum Amy Sachse said. “I would call her wise beyond her years. She always had a smile on her face, always had a story to share.”
During recess in kindergarten, while all of Olivia’s classmates chased each other on the mulched playground, she watched from a distance behind a folding table with a small basket of toys her teacher set up for her.
Olivia and Sara contacted the district and Olivia showed then-associate-superintendent Michelle Hubbard how she was unable to get her wheelchair onto the mulch. After talking to Olivia, Hubbard urged the facilities director to move the other Corinth playgrounds to higher priority since there was a child in need of it.
To make the playground more inclusive, mulch was replaced with turf and ramps were attached to all of the play structures. Olivia also suggested the playgrounds incorporate sensory toys so that it wasn’t just inclusive of those with physical disabilities, but also sensory challenges.
“She really influenced everyone around her, students and staff alike about what the true meaning of inclusion was and helped everyone live with a more empathetic lens and more awareness, and she did so in a kind and assertive way,” Sachse said.
After the Corinth playgrounds, the district decided they wouldn’t stop there in increasing accessibility. They allocated a portion of the 2021 bond issue budget to updating every playground in the district. As Olivia often said, “All children deserve the chance to play.”
The eight elementary school playgrounds left to be updated are set to be finished by the end of the summer of 2024. Olivia also brought the district to decide to weigh the needs of their student populations more heavily when it came to updating schools.
In early 2022, 10-year-old Olivia was granted the KC’s Independent Rising Stars Award, making her the award’s youngest recipient. Olivia also won a global urban playground design competition in 2021 for her inclusive playground design.
To continue her legacy and goals of making change after she passed, her mom and dad started The Olivia Bloomfield Foundation to help fund charities and projects striving to make the community more inclusive for those with disabilities. The foundation works toward expanding research on congenital muscular dystrophy.
“I hope that through the foundation we will continue to carry on that good work,” Sara said. “It’s not that one thing, it’s that idea that we’re continuously evolving and looking at our spaces.”
East alum Sam Stedry wanted to do more than send flowers after finding out about Olivia’s passing. East alum Sam Stedry’s younger sister who has a developmental disorder was in the same ballet class as Olivia and she would come to the kids yoga classes he taught at Power Life Yoga. He was so impressed with her positive attitude and determination to not let her disability hold her back from enjoying life.
Stedry talked to his managers at Power Life and put together two classes in July that raised $800 for the Foundation.
The Foundation is working on donating an adaptive bike for a handicapped child and plans on supporting and creating inclusive opportunities for children with disabilities. Olivia’s legacy will carry on through the Foundation and those who she inspired.
“Our hope with Olivia’s Foundation is that it extends beyond Shawnee Mission,” Sara said. “That other districts look at what Shawnee Mission is doing and [say], ‘We need to do that in Blue Valley,’ ‘We need to do that in every school district across Kansas,’ and then across the nation.”
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