Teacher Alex Truesdell is Transforming Lives: Adaptive Design Association Revolutionizes Disability Solutions

Adaptive Design Association (ADA) was established as an independent non-profit in 2001. Based in Manhattan, New York, ADA has been transforming the lives of individuals with disabilities by inventing and producing innovative, low-cost adaptive design solutions for over twenty years.

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. It also 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.

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 Association 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.

Find more information at: https://www.adaptivedesign.org/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrbUkrirE9g