Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities is creating cardboard adaptations for kids with disabilities
This will help improve the lives of children with paralysis
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year approximately 10,000 babies born in the United States will develop cerebral palsy.
If you did not know, cerebral palsy can affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. This life-long condition can also improve or worsen over time while also causing visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments.
Photography by Ryan S. Brandenberg from Temple University's website
Temple University's Institute on Disabilities has made it their mission to help improve the lives of the children with disabilities.
The institute has been awarded with a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, allowing Temple to help train local professionals to build inexpensive cardboard adaptations.
Temple University released a video about the story of Mark, a child who has cerebral palsy and loves playing video games.
However, Mark does not have the ability to hold up his controller with both hands. As we could see in the video, Mark's mother explains how this could be an issue since he can not sit upright in a chair due to the paralysis in his legs.
Temple's Adaptive Design Greater Philadelphia will help change the lives of children and their families by making adaptations out of cardboard, which is affordable for the families who need it.
The usual device can cost over hundreds of dollars, while the cardboard adaptations made by Temple would cost less than $50.
“If you go and get something commercially made, it’s very expensive, it takes a very long time, and you can’t incorporate what that child loves when you do it,” said Kim Singleton, director of assistive technology programs at Temple’s Institute on Disabilities. “By using cardboard, we can turn that challenge into a successful part of that person’s life.”
According to Temple, the $75,000 Reeve Foundation grant allowed them to bring Alex Truesdell—a MacArthur Fellow and founder of the Adaptive Design Association who is the leader of the national movement of creating cardboard adaptations for children.
Temple students should also be aware of Adaptive Design Greater Philadelphia collaboration with Frankie’s World, a specialized day care for children with disabilities in North Philadelphia about a mile from our campus, helping to create adaptations for children.
It is estimated that roughly 100 adaptations for more than six dozen children will be produced in the first year of the grant.
Alex Truesdell will also be speaking about her vision for adaptations and access for all at Temple Contemporary on Oct. 5. The event is free and open to everyone. Register here.