Sometimes youths with disabilities cannot operate a toy that an otherwise able-bodied child can. So the toy has to be adapted; that can be expensive and where can that be done?
Faithful Fabricators, who adapt toys at no charge, is a group that meets weekly to adapt toys brought by agencies that work with children with disabilities. Lately, they’ve taken their talents to another level, making wheelchairs for toddlers, using 3D printing technology.
Faithful Fabricators is what the name says: People of faith who fabricate adaptations to toys and games and now, wheelchairs. The Fabricators meet at Five Lakes Church on McCord Road, which houses the Maker Space at the Life Center.
We work with clients “ages 2 to teens,” relates Danny Royer, the group’s founding director, adding “[it] depends on the situation and the need. Most work so far has been for children with disabilities like Down syndrome, a limb abnormality or something that causes them to need a different approach to play.”
One example of a typical project is a Teddy bear that has a button in one of its ears that plays a song when you push the button.. “Some children can’t reach that button,” he said. So he or one of the other Fabricators wires in a jack that accommodates a cord leading to a button. “That puts the button closer to the child,” he said.
Funding fabrications
The church supports what they do, and they’re financed largely through donations. For their newest – and most ambitious – project, the Fabricators have an unsolicited $2,500 grant. “That money will build a lot of wheelchairs,” Royer said.
With 3D printers at the church and individual Fabricators’ homes, the group is printing the components and building Toddler Mobility Trainers to give children the feel of a non-motorized wheelchair, which they’ll eventually grow into. The plans are provided for free by MakeGood Design, a specialty company.
Working with the Ability Center
The Fabricators have delivered a wheelchair to the Ability Center of Greater Toledo, which has been the beneficiary of many of the group’s adaptive toys and items.
The Ability Center is the genesis of the group. Through Leadership Toledo, Royer said he came in contact with the Center and its needs, adding, referencing his faith, “I knew God was calling me to start a group. I wanted to get plugged into the community a little more.”
“[Royer] decided to use his interests and skills to partner with the Ability Center to provide resources for families,” said Jennifer Englemann, the center’s youth family services coordinator. “Danny has been 3D printing switches for families who don’t have access to them, as well as researching and creating new 3D-printable items that support individuals with disabilities. Through this partnership, we are able to gift these devices to families so their children have the equipment they need, without financial barriers.”
Englemann added, “Many Ability Center families have benefited from the work that Danny and Faithful Fabricators have started.” “The accolades and the awareness of [our group] is really not the goal,” Royer said. “The true motivation is that it’s a part of living out our faith.”
Faithful Fabricators. 4859 Tamworth Rd, Sylvania. [email protected].
