About Us
Over the past 20 years, we have created thousands of adaptations for children in NYC, provided hundreds of hands-on classes and internships, and enthusiastically supported people launching adaptive design centers around the world.
Our Mission
Adaptive Design Association advances healthcare, education, and social well-being by engaging everyone—novice to expert—in building custom adaptations, discovering untapped potential, and nurturing communities that thrive with diversity.
Our Vision
Adaptive Design Association envisions a day when adaptive design centers are operating in communities, schools, and organizations everywhere; and when all people with disabilities are fully educated, employed, and valued, in every family, society, and country.
History
Adaptive Design Associates (ADA) was established as an independent non-profit in 2001. Based in Manhattan, New York, ADA has been transforming the lives of disabled individuals by inventing and producing innovative, low-cost adaptive design solutions for over twenty years.
Alex Truesdell, Founder, and Director Emeritus began creating adaptive solutions at Perkins School for the Blind when she was a teacher for children with multiple disabilities. Alex invented and produced adaptive tools by using affordable materials such as cardboard and rolled towels. Through years of practice, Alex transformed ideas and frustrations into highly customized and successful solutions. In 2015 The MacArthur Foundation recognized ADA's innovative approach to solving critical global problems by awarding Alex with a MacArthur Fellowship.
Today, under the leadership of Executive Director Jennifer Hercman, Adaptive Design Associates has grown its programmatic scope to strengthen adaptive solutions for individuals with physical disabilities, producing three-dimensional communication learning cards for the visually impaired, and launching an innovative work program for students with Autism in the New York Public School system.
Timeline
Alex Truesdell Kellogg Fellowship
1995
Women Care DPCA launching
Alternatives To Incarceration program &
Antoinette LaSorsa joins the team
1998
Move to
Riverside Drive
2000
Move to
midtown
Manhattan
2006
Department of Education District 75 opens 7 Adaptive Design workshops
2012
Incorporation as “Adaptive Design Association.Inc” a 501c3 not-for profit organization, John Embree, Founding Chair
2001
First support from the New York Community Trust.
Well Met Philanthropy seed funding
2002
OT/PT supervisors secured DOE funding for weekly professional development courses
2003
2004
PS 138 Fabricating Individual Technical Team partnership (FITT)
2005
Crain’s New York Business feature in What Makes New York NY
First American Printing House order for 500 sets of Tangible Symbol Cues (13,500 cues).
Ford Foundation: Made-to-Learn internship (Adults with autism)
2013
New York Times: Using Cardboard to Bring Disabled Children Out of the Exile of Wrong Furniture.
Replication at FUNDAL in Guatemala
2014
2015
New York Community Trust supports
Managed Care research grant.
Alex Truesdell named MacArthur Fellow
2016
PBS Newshour: For children with disabilities, making the world a custom fit out of cardboard
Feature in What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World
By: Sara Hendren
2021
Our Team
Jennifer Hercman
Executive Director
Antoinette LaSorsa
Fabrication Director
Charles Cohen
Fabrication Assistant
Tamara Morgan
Community Partnerships Coordinator
Adam El-Sawaf
Senior Adaptive Designer & Fabricator
Michelle D'Mello
Grant Writer
Eric GottShall
Adaptive Designer & Fabricator
Board Members
Carole Gordon
Chair & Interim Treasurer
Tracy Ehrlich
Ronnie Eldridge
Member
Kathy Goldman
Marianne Petit
Vice Chair
Member
Secretary
Laura Taub
Member
Lisa Yokana
Member
Frequently Asked Questions
Financial Information
Adaptive Design Association
is a 501c3 organization
The New York State Office of the Attorney General provides access to the annual filing for charitable organizations. Adaptive Design Association is committed to financial transparency. For additional information please do not hesitate to connect using info@adaptivedesign.org or 212-904-1200.
About the Founder
In 1981, Alex Truesdell, met two people that forever inspired her to better the lives of others.
Alex Truesdell
Founder
In that year, Alex Truesdell, an early childhood teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, met Erin, an infant with severe multiple disabilities. A few months later, Alex’s aunt lost the use of her fingers and thumbs following a spinal cord injury. “I had never heard of adaptive technology, but suddenly found myself waking up in the night thinking of adaptations. I rolled towels into bolsters, carved notches in toys, and threaded straps through seat backs.” With the help of her Uncle Frank, a skilled builder, Alex learned to work with all kinds of materials, and together, they transformed ideas and frustrations into highly customized solutions for Erin and her Aunt Lynn.
Over the next few years, Alex set up a small workshop in her basement and made many more adaptations for children on her caseload. Alex was eventually hired full-time by the Perkins School to start the Assistive Device Center. In 1998, Alex relocated to New York City with the goal of replicating the practice and philosophy of adaptive design, and adding an internship program for women re-entering the workforce through Alternatives To Incarceration. Through a great stroke of luck, Alex met Antoinette LaSorsa and they developed a pilot called “Creative Constructions.” In 2001 they established the Adaptive Design Association as an independent nonprofit. In 2015 The MacArthur Foundation recognized Alex's innovative approach to solving a critical global problem and awarded her the MacArthur Fellowship.