Switch Accessible DIY

We tried a new piece of equipment for E this week.  It looks very promising but once again the price is high and we will be touring the charities for help if our local services can't fund it.

It got me thinking though about how much disability equipment and adaptations cost.  I understand the high development costs for a small market is the main reason for this but I'm often struck that if the price was lower, the market would be bigger as the need to source outside funding for a purchase would be reduced.

These high prices are not sadly restricted to large pieces of equipment and often toys which are lower costs have prices increased by over 100% when adapted for additional needs.  So in this time of financial strains for everyone, I thought it worth looking into what we can do ourselves.

We were lucky when E was small, the team who supplied E with her switch technology had a great member who would happily adapt any toy for no cost to use.  Noddy was a great favourite and the switch adapted remote control Noddy car was a hit.

A trawl of the internet revealed a number of good resources on how to go about making adaptations to different types of toys, including the following:

Cause and Effect Toys

Battery Operated Toys

and all the necessary equipment can be obtained in  Maplin and other similar stores. 

You can also buy ready made kits for battery operated switch adaptations here.  

If even this is too daunting for you (it is for me) ask around, you may have family or friends who love this kind thing and would be only too happy to help. 

If you've adapted any toys yourself, or had adaptations done, I would be really interested to know how you got.