From Cardboard to Confidence: How One Child’s World Expanded Through Adaptive Design
- Jennifer Hercman
- Jun 25, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 29
When we first met Lukas in January 2020, he was a one-year-old with bright, searching eyes and parents who, like so many families we meet, were learning how to hold joy and uncertainty at the same time.
Lukas was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes epilepsy, cognitive impairment, low muscle tone, and significant delays in gross and fine motor development. From his earliest moments, his parents were met with clinical predictions of what Lukas might never do. Sitting independently, playing with toys, and feeding comfortably all felt out of reach.
Disability is the one minority that anyone can become a part of regardless of education, income, profession, or background. And while Lukas’s family had knowledge and resources, disability often compounds existing inequities for families with fewer supports. The need for timely, individualized solutions is universal, and the consequences of delay are not.
What Lukas needed did not exist in a catalog. So Adaptive Design Association did what we do best: we built it, using cardboard.
Working closely with Lukas’s physical therapist and family, our team designed a custom adaptive chair constructed from reinforced cardboard and simple, accessible materials. Cardboard allows us to prototype quickly, adjust precisely, and respond immediately to a child’s changing body without waiting months for insurance approvals or costly manufacturing timelines.
The chair included a tilt-in-space feature so Lukas could recline when fatigued, a carefully contoured headrest to address flat head syndrome, and a removable tray that supported fine motor development through play. After multiple fittings and an in-home adjustment, the chair fit Lukas perfectly.
And then something remarkable happened. With the support of his ADA chair, Lukas began to sit safely on the floor among his toys, where babies belong. He started using his hands to explore. He built strength, balance, and confidence. Within months, Lukas reached a milestone his family had been told not to expect so soon: he learned to sit independently.
For his parents, this was more than progress. It was joy.
Lukas’s therapy team quickly integrated the chair into daily physical, occupational, and early intervention sessions. His physical therapist noted that the specific combination of features ADA designed made possible by cardboard’s adaptability was not available in any commercially manufactured device. The chair became a cornerstone of his therapeutic program.
Five years later, in May 2025, Lukas’s family reached out again.
Lukas was ready for his next milestone: walking. His insurance-funded gait trainer had been approved but it would take four months to arrive. Four months is an eternity in a child’s development. Once again, they turned to Adaptive Design. Could we adapt his existing equipment, using what we had, to bridge the gap? Once again, the answer was yes.
Our team modified his current device so Lukas could safely practice walking while waiting for his permanent equipment. No delays. No lost momentum. No missed opportunity.
Today, Lukas is a joyful, determined child moving through the world with growing independence—supported by design that met him exactly where he was, at exactly the right moment.
At Adaptive Design Association, this is the power of cardboard and of community. In a city that moves fast, we slow down. We listen. We design one child at a time using accessible materials that allow for creativity, speed, and dignity. Each year, we serve children across New York City, many of whom face compounded barriers related to income, language, housing, or access to care.
When we turn cardboard into custom equipment, we do more than build devices; we build possibilities. And through this work, we help families move from being told what isn’t possible to discovering what is.
