About

A large group of toy hackers from Provail Therapy Center, the UW Taskar Center for Accessible Technology, HuskyADAPT, Global Innovation Exchange, and PNW library volunteers smile at the camera at the 2019 Holiday GIX Hackathon.

Background

People interact with devices to develop physical and emotional skills. Such devices include adaptive seating, emergency response systems, and electronic toys.

Not every device is designed with diverse mobile abilities in mind, which means that many people are unfairly excluded from the benefits these devices intend to bring. Currently in Washington state, there is no convenient service for “trying before buying” accessible electronic toys. Furthermore, accessible toys on the market are often expensive.

Our mission is to provide free and easy access to accessible electronic toys to the community. We also host events teaching volunteers to “adapt”, or fix electronic toys for better accessibility.

Check out this video for more information on the library!

The Pacific North West Adapted Toy Library is made possible by a partnership among PROVAIL Therapy Center, the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology at the Paul G. Allen School for CS&E and the HuskyADAPT student organization at the University of Washington.

People

Two PNW library volunteers are sitting at a table with soldering equipment, wearing safety glasses and adapting a plastic bubble blower toy. The right participant is making a hole in the toy with a file as the other watches.

Current Administrative Members:

  • Dr. Anat Caspi: Director of The Taskar Center for Accessible Technology
  • Gabriel Laigo: Assistive Technology Specialist at PROVAIL

Past Volunteers:

  • Library search engine developers: Nathan Chen, Sonya Lao, Dan Le
  • Volunteers: Miles Goodner, Sylvia Ho, Suresh Devalapalli, Julia Ladner
  • Research Assistants: Natalie VanDevanter, Subhangi Kabra, Jay Lin and Samatha Mak

Support for the PNW Adaptive Library: Initial support was graciously provided by The Ford College Community Challenge. Additional supporters have included Nintendo of America, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Kind County.

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