In loving memory of Nettie Faith Martz · Advocating for every ability

No one should sit on the sidelines of life.

Nettie Says was founded in memory of Nettie Faith Martz — a girl who taught everyone around her about love, joy, and belonging. We work so that every child, of every ability, can be in the middle of the fun.

Support the mission Meet Nettie

Honoring Nettie
her life & lessons Active inclusion
in play, school & life Rooted in Teaneck
reaching everywhere

Nettie Faith Martz smiling, wearing a pink headband and turquoise butterfly hair clips. — Nettie Faith MartzJune 21, 2002 – February 15, 2013י״א תמוז תשס״ב – ה׳ אדר תשע״ג

A sunny day outdoors — the kind of togetherness Nettie loved most. — Nettie cherished being together with her family — right in the middle of everything.

Her story

The girl who inspired it all

Nettie Faith Martz lived a beautiful, meaningful, and inspirational life — and, tragically, a short one. She passed away at ten and a half years old. In that time she taught the world about love, inclusion, selflessness, optimism, perseverance, and hope, and about throwing yourself wholeheartedly into every activity.

Nettie was partially blind and deaf. She used a customized wheelchair with head and neck support, a cochlear implant, custom sunglasses, a feeding tube, hand, back, and leg braces, and communication devices. None of it defined her. What defined Nettie was how much she loved being with her family — and how much she wanted to be part of everything.

Growing up in Teaneck, New Jersey, Nettie became the inspiration for a fully inclusive playground where all children could play together. That playground grew into a promise, and that promise became Nettie Says.

Our mission

Access is the start. Active inclusion is the goal.

Being allowed onto a playground, into a classroom, or into a club is not the same as being part of it. Active inclusion — real play, real participation, real belonging — should be the standard for every recreational and educational activity, for people of every ability.

Everyone plays together

Not a separate corner, not a designated slot — the same play, at the same time, side by side. Belonging happens in the middle of the activity.

Beyond the minimum

The Americans with Disabilities Act was a vital step in 1990. We push for the sophistication and specificity that turns basic access into genuine participation.

Playgrounds, schools & clubs

Wherever people gather to learn and play, we advocate for spaces and programs designed so no one has to watch from the sidelines.

All people deserve a chance to be in the midst of activity and to enjoy the activities of life.

Where it began

The all-inclusive playground at Votee Park

When Nettie's family visited most parks, her siblings would play while her mother practiced walking with Nettie off to the side. So they set out to build something different: a playground in Teaneck's Votee Park where children with and without disabilities could play together — with a wheelchair-friendly surface, ramps to the top of the structures, high-back and harness swings, and sensory features to guide children who are blind or low-vision.

“It feels like punishment. All it does is further isolate her and outline her disability — which is not who Nettie is.” — Cindy Balsam-Martz, who led the effort, on ordinary playgrounds

Completed in the fall of 2008, it quickly became the busiest playground in the township — proof that when you build for everyone, everyone comes. It is the idea Nettie Says carries forward.

2008Completed

#1Busiest in town

AllAbilities welcome

Children playing outdoors at a park in Teaneck, New Jersey.

A pink adaptive swing seat with high-back support and a secure safety harness, hanging from swing chains. — An adaptive swing: high-back support and a secure harness, ready to hang on standard swing hardware.

Your gift at work

Adaptive swings: a small gift with enormous joy

Donations to Nettie Says have funded the purchase and installation of adaptive swings at several playgrounds across the New Jersey and New York area.

It's one of the most powerful investments a playground can make — and one of the quickest wins. A single adaptive swing hangs from the hardware a playground already has, and its high-back support and secure harness open the simple, soaring joy of swinging to small children and to children with disabilities who can't use a standard seat. One seat, and suddenly everyone gets a turn.

Every donation helps us put the next swing on the next playground.

Contribute

Help build a world with no sidelines

Every gift supports inclusive play and advocacy in Nettie's name. Choose an amount to get started — your contribution helps ensure the next child never has to watch from the edge.

Donations are processed securely by PayPal — cards and Venmo accepted. Nettie Says is a registered 501(c)(3); contributions may be tax-deductible.