• To educate therapists, parents, teachers and others in the caring community to recognize needs and opportunities for user-specific equipment.
• To build equipment and devices that meet specific needs and capitalize on developmental opportunities.
• To promote the establishment of community-based adaptive design workshops.
• To serve as a resource center for information and training in design and development of customized equipment.

Continuing Education and Training

ADA offers classes in the basics of cardboard carpentry, construction and adaptive design to occupational and physical therapists, teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, interns, community volunteers, and individuals interested in learning the craft. Through hands-on training, ADA teaches participants how to turn their ideas into functional pieces of furniture and adaptive equipment. Participants learn to use hand and power tools and work with common building materials. Many people express reservations about their creative potential or mechanical aptitude, but by the end of their first project, most are delighted to discover skills they never realized they had.

The Adaptive Design Association operates a community-based workshop where parents, therapists, and teachers bring children to work with ADA staff on the creation of customized equipment. ADA facilitates the planning process from assessment, to brainstorming, to shared decision-making, to measurement, to design, to construction of the equipment.

Outreach

The need for custom-made equipment is enormous but adaptive design services are rare, so most children with disabilities go without such equipment. To narrow the gap between need and response, ADA advocates a broad-based expansion of adaptive design services and education in schools, hospitals and communities.