Speaking About Inclusive Play at the United Nations Office in Vienna

Our founder, Aditi Agrawal, speaking about inclusive play at the Zero Project Conference 2025 in Vienna.

Our founder, Aditi Agrawal, recently spoke about inclusive play at the United Nations Office in Vienna. The session was part of the Zero Project Conference, a global platform that brings together ideas, practices, and innovations focused on disability inclusion from around the world.

During her presentation, she spoke about the work being done at Gudgudee. Work rooted in the belief that play spaces should welcome children of all abilities. Not as an exception. Not as a separate category. But as a fundamental starting point for design.

What began as a short pitch gradually became something more meaningful.

The response to Gudgudee’s work was thoughtful and encouraging. It reaffirmed the importance of inclusive design within public spaces and highlighted how deeply these conversations resonate across cultures, geographies, and disciplines. The exchange was not driven by spectacle or scale, but by shared understanding and lived experience.

At Gudgudee, play is seen as a right, not a privilege.

This belief shapes how spaces are imagined and built. Inclusive play is not about creating separate zones or special equipment. It is about designing environments where children of different abilities can explore, imagine, and play together without hierarchy or exclusion. Spaces where difference does not need explanation because it is already accounted for.

Designing such spaces requires intention.

It asks designers to move beyond assumptions about ability, movement, supervision, and participation. It requires listening carefully to how children use space, how caregivers interact with environments, and how communities gather. It demands sensitivity to sensory experiences, comfort, safety, and dignity, all at once.

The experience at the conference served as a reminder that design can be joyful and inclusive at the same time. That accessibility does not dilute creativity. And that meaningful impact does not always require volume or urgency. Often, honest conversations spoken with clarity and care are what leave the deepest impression.

The reflections and conversations that followed the session extended well beyond the formal presentation. There were quiet exchanges, thoughtful questions, and shared moments of recognition. These interactions reinforced the understanding that inclusive play is not a niche concern. It is a collective responsibility.

For children, inclusive play spaces are places of belonging. For families, they offer reassurance and dignity. For cities and institutions, they reflect values that go beyond compliance and towards care.

Moments like these reinforce why inclusive play matters.

They remind us that the work is not only about building spaces, but about shaping experiences and perspectives. They affirm why continuing this work is essential, even when it is complex, slow, or challenging.

Because when play spaces are designed to include everyone, they do more than support childhood. They quietly model the kind of society we hope to grow into.