ADA Executive Director Alex Truesdell founded the organization based on her 11 years of experience creating and supervising the Assistive Device Center at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA, the school that educated Helen Keller.

ADA began in 1998 as the Creative Construction Project. Recognizing the pervasive need for custom-made adaptive equipment, the staff and advisory board of Creative Construction decided to establish the Adaptive Design Association as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in April 2001.

Since its creation, ADA has trained over 300 therapists, teachers, and parents in adaptive design techniques, and has created over 300 pieces of adaptive equipment for children with disabilities.

The founding of ADA was driven by two compelling observations:

  1. Children with disabilities need more equipment than they are getting; and
  2. Teachers, therapists, parents, and community volunteers can learn to build innovative and therapeutically appropriate adaptive equipment.

The Adaptive Design Association believes that no one should go without customized equipment. Whether the equipment is a stroller seat insert for an infant with cerebral palsy, an adapted toothbrush handle for a woman with paralyzed hands, or a tactile communication board for an adolescent who is deaf-blind, the benefits are abundant for the recipient and for the team of individuals who create, design, and build.

Assistive Technology is redefining what is possible for children and adults with disabilities. In the home, the classroom, the workplace, and the community, assistive technology is providing creative solutions that enable individuals with disabilities to be more independent, productive, and integrated into the mainstream of society and community life. Adaptive equipment can be simple or complex. It includes adapted clothing, toys, computers, seating systems, powered mobility, augmentative communication devices, special switches, and thousands of other adapted items. These solutions enhance an individual’s ability to learn, compete, work, and interact with family and friends.

Alexandra Enders, “Study on the financing of assistive technology and services for individuals with disabilities” A Report to the President and the Congress of the United States, March 4, 1993, http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/1993/assistive.htm