They're such simple things:
• A sturdy chair that keeps a child with cerebral palsy from slumping over.
• A weighted vest that helps to calm a child with autism.
• A palm-activated lever that enables a child to turn on a toy.
For 22 years, the Adaptation Station and its volunteers have been turning out everything from furniture to toys for clients with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and cognitive disabilities.
A unit of the Arizona Department of Economic Security Division of Developmental Disabilities, the "station" helps children, as well as adults already in the system.
"It's an amazing resource for us," says pediatric physical therapist Joanne Szabo, who found out about the service not long after moving here in 2003.
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"I needed a bench and table for a little guy with Down syndrome. I thought, 'Gosh, I hope I don't have to order through a catalog.' "
Instead, she met up with Ronda Chance, coordinator of the Tucson program since its first year.
"Ronda took me through the ropes," says Szabo. "The whole table and chair cost $40. It would have cost me $300 in the catalog."
Thanks to a cadre of volunteers, many retired, clients are charged only for materials, never labor.
Volunteers saw, sew, solder and sand five days a week. "Some work three hours a week, some as much as 12 or 16 hours a week," says Chance.
Some even do it at home. Bernice Taylor, who lives in Douglas, comes by monthly to get materials for the quilts and other items she makes.
"I wanted to help," says Taylor, 62, who showed up at the agency's center on East 29th Street in midtown three years ago after her niece was disabled in a car accident.
Other volunteers range from former electrical engineers and teachers to a group of Mennonites who come to Tucson every winter.
"We can adapt a tricycle so a little kid can pedal. Or they can hit a switch and make a toy work," says Christine Small, 71, a former occupational therapist who now volunteers at the center. "Very small things make a big difference."
The center works closely with therapists, who measure clients and put in orders.
Perhaps the most expensive items, at $100 to $200, are the standing tables, for those with trouble balancing. "They're $1,500 in the catalogs," says Chance.
Rose Dunn, 70, has adopted her two grandchildren, a little girl, also named Rose Dunn, 8, and her brother, Caleb "Bubba" Dunn, 7.
Both suffered from drug and alcohol exposure in the womb, says their grandmother.
Both use special desks and chairs that help them with balance. They also wear weighted vests and sleep under weighted blankets to calm their autism.
"I don't know where we would be without this place," Dunn said.
