ADA hired a robot 🦾🤖✨
Just kidding! It’s just Eric (ADA Fabrication Manager) from his days before ADA at FIT’s Sculpture Program and Rutgers MFA in Design.
❓How do these pursuits and musings inform Eric’s work adapting designs - such as wheelchairs to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and motorized kids vehicles with oxygen tanks?
🎶 I’d love to share more, but I wouldn’t want to ruin all the fun of hanging out at ADA - FRIDAY May 15💥
🛠️ Join me, Eric and Tamara for CARExDESIGN: Disability, Design + Art > In Conversation at ADA. Eventbrite RSVP link in bio.
📍313 W 36th St. (at 8th Ave)
🗓️ FRIDAY May 15th
🔵 Doors 5pm. Tour 5:30-6:00. Talk 6-6:45. QnA 6:45-7:30.
• light snacks and refreshments will be served
Image descriptions:
1 - profile of a person wearing what appears to be a slightly oversized computer monitor (backwards) with thick black tubing that runs from the monitor’s ‘face’ into black gloves the person is wearing
2 - back and front perspectives of the figure wearing contraption
3 - test driving the adapted Trekker KT with Tamara and Adam in Central Park (July 2025)
4 - Eric doing a fitting for Bowie - a little girl with curly dark brown hair in a high pony tail, wearing a white sundress with cartoon black flowers, sitting in a pink floorsitter, while her Mom watches on from behind and an Occupational Therapist helps her with holding her head up to interact on Eric
5 - Eric wearing a giant macaroni Tshirt (my favourite) adapting an orange and black motorized kid vehicle with wooden pieces to accommodate the needs of a child who travels with an oxygen tank
6 - Eric and Tamara on stage at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s auditorium, on stage with a moderator, talking about ADA for the exhibition Adapt/Evolve (Fall 2025 - link in bio)
7 - Eric walking down the hall pushing along an adapted kid size pink jeep
#adaptivedesignassociation #carexdesign #nycxdesign #disabilityservices #dei
2026 is the Adaptive Design Association’s 25th birthday🎂
We’ve been reflecting on all the adaptations we’ve made, the stories they tell, and our co-creators, some whom we’ve known all their lives and made 10+ adaptations for!
💥How are we imagining our next 25 years? With you!!!
Join us at < CARExDESIGN: In Conversation > for a tour of the workshop and an evening of sharing adaptive design stories, triumphs, challenges, hopes and dreams. Yours + Ours.
📍313 West 36th Street (at 8th Ave)
🟦 Doors 5pm, Tour 5:30-6:00pm, Talk 6-6:45pm, QnA 6:45-7:30pm.
✅ RSVP required - Eventbrite link in bio.
🍪 Light refreshments and snacks will be served.
💜🧡CARExDESIGN cultivates connections and conversations to reframe disability as diversity💛🩷
This is an evening of holding space to not only share with you some of the work that we’ve been doing at ADA, but to facilitate a conversation between everyone in the room about adaptive design, health justice, disability awareness and what exactly it means to ‘design with care’.
Speakers:
🌀 Tamara Morgan - ADA Associate Director and first woman with Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 3 (brittle bone condition) to summit Mount Kilimanjaro using a custom adapted Trekker wheelchair (2025). Tamara holds a Masters in Creative Art Therapy from New York University.
🌀 Eric Gotshall - ADA Fabrication Manager. Alumnus of FIT’s Sculpture Program and adjunct faculty at Rutgers University where he earned his MFA in Design.
🌀 Elaine Young – ADA Board Member and Chair of Events and Collaborations. Curator of CARExDESIGN at NYCxDESIGN. Founder of STUDIOPHORIA and an alumni of NEW INC. Elaine holds a Masters in bioethics and medical anthropology from New York University.
#carexdesign #nycxdesign2026 #nycxdesign #dei #disabilityawareness
Image descriptions:
1 - timelapse of Trekker KT final review for 3D scan
2 - en route on the Mount Kilimanjaro climb
3 - 360 tiny planet video of Tamara at the top
4 - Eric and an OT at a home fitting
5 - Eric adapting a motorized kids vehicle with an oxygen tank holder
6 - Elaine giving a tour of ADA designs at FIT
7 - Tamara, Eric and Elaine with the FIT gallery team
Get ready for the opening of CARExDESIGN at NYCxDESIGN 2026.
Join Adaptive Design Association for CARExDESIGN: In Conversation — an evening of stories, space, and dialogue on why inclusive, person-centered design matters. Tour the studio, connect across disciplines, and hear reflections from 25 years of collaboration. Light refreshments served. Click the link in our bio to learn more about the event and reserve your spot.
#CARExDESIGN #NYCxDESIGN #InclusiveDesign #AdaptiveDesign #DesignForAll
🌺 Celebrating Mothers all month long 🌺
This Mother’s Day month, we honor the deep love, advocacy, and everyday care that families bring to this community.
Today, we are honored to celebrate Susan and her son, Charlie. Sixteen years ago, Charlie was measured for a custom desk made just for him @adaptivedesigninc . One of our staff captured this moment as he proudly sat at his desk.
Charlie passed away last July. He would have turned 18 next month. This is Susan’s first Mother’s Day without him.
And yet, in the midst of that grief, Susan reached back out to share this photo and video with us, reminding us how meaningful these adaptations were in Charlie’s daily life.
Swipe to watch Charlie in action.
Thank you, Susan, for allowing us to honor Charlie and share his story with our community this Mother’s Day month. Your love continues to ripple outward. 💛
#MothersDay #AdaptiveDesign #GiftOfInclusion #MothersMonth #Community
Teacher Appreciation Week felt extra special as we welcomed educators from @ihopenyc into our space for a hands-on workshop filled with energy, creativity, and big smiles.
Teachers rotated between cardboard carpentry and battery interrupter stations, building practical tools they can bring straight back to their classrooms. We also surprised a few with giveaways from our teacher wish list collection.
This is what community-based support looks like. Our special educators show up every day with creativity and heart to ensure students with disabilities have access to meaningful learning experiences and we loved the chance to pour a little of that care back into them.
#TeacherAppreciationWeek #SpecialEducation #TeacherSupport #CommunityBased #AdaptiveDesign
The smiles say it all.
At our Tactile Talks workshop, each educator didn’t just leave with new ideas they left holding a tangible symbol they made themselves, ready to use with students that very day.
At the start of the session, a few people looked at the materials and wondered, “What is this object on a piece of cardboard?”
By the end, that same object had become a powerful communication tool tied to choice-making, participation, and student agency.
That transformation is why it’s so important to infuse hands-on making and real teacher support into professional development. When educators build the tools themselves, the learning sticks. The strategy becomes practical. The confidence becomes visible.
Grateful to the @wscfgrants for making this kind of in-school, hands-on learning possible right here in our neighborhood.
This is professional development you can hold in your hand.
#TactileCommunication #InclusiveEducation #TeacherSupport #AdaptiveDesign #Accessibility
Bringing tactile systems education into the school building is where our mission comes to life.
With support from the @wscfgrants , we partnered with the incredible team at P226M to deliver a Tactile Talks workshop for a cross-disciplinary group of SLPs, OTs, PTs, and Special Educators.
Some educators in the room were veterans with experience using tangible symbol systems, while for others this was a first introduction. Bringing everyone together created an important moment to reconnect around the effectiveness and value of tactile communication, sharing reminders, new ideas, and practical ways to apply it across classrooms and therapies.
This is what happens when fabrication meets community building.
For over two decades, we’ve created tangible symbol cards for individual clients and classrooms. Through hands-on workshops like this one, that knowledge moves directly into the hands of the professionals who use them every day, right here in our neighborhood schools.
Huge thanks to the administration and staff for welcoming us in, to the therapists and educators who showed up ready to collaborate, and to our partners who helped shape a session.
This is how inclusion grows: teacher by teacher, classroom by classroom, student by student.
#TactileCommunication #InclusiveEducation #AdaptiveDesign #CommunityPartnership #Accessibility
Happy to share our Tactile Talks series continues! Join Adaptive Design for a dynamic, end-of-school-year gathering that brings together educators, therapists, parents, and practitioners for a day of reflection and hands-on making.
Have you participated in an Adaptive Design workshop recently and been using tangible symbols in your classroom, home, or program? If so, this event is for you.
Participants can expect a highly interactive, hands-on experience that blends reflection, collaboration, and making.
Who should attend? Only those who have attended previous Tactile Talks Workshops with Adaptive Design, either at your school, a conference, or at our workshop. (There will be other introductory workshops coming up soon!)
CTLE credits are available.
Registration link in bio.
#TactileTalks #AdaptiveDesign #TangibleSymbols #TactileCommunication #HandsOnLearning
🌺Celebrating Mothers all month long!
This Mother’s Day, celebrate the moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas who show up every day to ensure their children have access to meaningful experiences.
🌺 Celebrating Nora and Charles. An amazing mother son duo, who have devoted over a decade of service to the Adaptive Design community and to advocating for inclusion and access! 🌺 Happy Mother’s Month, Nora!
Are you a mother or child to someone in the Adaptive Design community? DM or tag us in a photo of you and your loved one so we can celebrate you!
Looking for the perfect gift this Mother’s Day? Honor their care, advocacy, and love by dedicating a gift in their name. When you give, you can choose to notify them, sharing how your tribute supports adaptations, inclusion, and dignity at Adaptive Design. Link to donate in bio.
#MothersDayGift #HonorWithLove #GiftOfInclusion #MothersDay2026 #DedicateAGift
Every detail matters.
When Synshiana said her favorite color was pink, we took that seriously.
Phill’s mom hand-crafted these flowers herself because this chair isn’t just functional, it’s hers.
Design is about dignity. It’s about joy. It’s about creating something that reflects the person who will use it every day.
This is what it looks like when a community comes together to build something truly personal.
#VolunteerExperience #CommunityImpact #AdaptiveDesign #CareXDesign
Video of delivery day 🎥. This is a sound on post 🔊.
Rolling down the hall. This is what it’s all about. Swipe to see Synshiana react to her new chair!
A chair designed just for her. In her favorite color. Built to help her transfer out of her wheelchair and sit at the same level as her classmates.
That moment, when she saw it for the first time, pure joy.
Because access isn’t just about equipment. It’s about independence. Confidence. Belonging.
And sometimes… it’s about a bold, beautiful shade of pink. 💗
#AdaptiveDesign #WheelchairLife #CareXDesign #AdaptfoAccess #cardboardcreations
New Blog post // The Pink Chariot Has Arrived: Synshiana’s New Chair
A chair designed just for her.
In her favorite color.
Built to help her transfer out of her wheelchair and sit at the same level as her classmates.
Because access should feel as good as it functions.
Text on image:
“Because dignity, joy, and agency aren’t extras.
They’re essential to how support should feel from the very beginning.”
#AdaptiveDesign #AdaptforAceess #CareXDesign
