The article presents a research developed collaterally within the framework of the European research project "LUDI. Play for Children with Disabilities" (http://ludinetwork.eu/, 2014-2018). One goal of the project is to provide guidelines on play for children with disabilities. To reach this goal, first of all the needs of users have been investigated through an empirical research conducted by two semi-structured questionnaire addressed to representatives of disability associations and parents of children with disabilities. The article reports briefly the theoretical framework of the research, the results of the survey at European level, and more in- depth the results of a research conducted by the Special Education group of research at University of Florence with the same methodology at disability associations of Livorno, in Tuscany (Italy). The results are similar to those of European research: it emerges that the needs on play of children with disabilities are the same regardless of the type of disability and the context in which the children live.