Volunteers gather to pool efforts to rewire toys for disabled kids

By BRITTNEY MOORE

Winnie the Pooh underwent surgery and recovered nicely as a Christmas gift for a child who is severely disabled.

Dozens of tech-savvy volunteers — from teens to retirees, from energetic novices to electrical engineers — are investing hours of their free time to rewire battery-operated toys for children who are disabled so they can enjoy that perfect gift at the top of their Christmas wish list.

“This isn’t folk-dancing class,” joked East Tennessee Technology Access Center board member Larry Ward. Volunteers, Ward said, “get an idea of how sophisticated [the toys] are.”

Ward and ETTAC Director Lois Symington are teaching volunteer “elves” in workshops how to rewire simple toys.

For many, it’s a labor of love.

“I’m here to learn,” said volunteer Albert Brown, who learned of ETTAC’s Toy Tech program after his wife, Elaine Brown, heard about it on a radio broadcast.

ETTAC, a nonprofit organization that aims to help people with disabilities live in a technology-centered world, began Toy Tech when ETTAC board member Bob Atkinson mentioned rewiring toys with his disabled daughter in mind, said Louise McKown, public awareness coordinator and systems change analyst for ETTAC.

“[Atkinson] said that it would be fun to adapt toys to give away to kids who can’t use their hands,” McKown said.

Symington said more than 6,000 children in Knox County, Tenn., alone are disabled.

“It meets a need,” said Symington. “Even for children with burns or who are weak, playing with a toy is impossible. It gives kids a way to experience play and all the things associated with playing, like language development and sharing.”

According to McKown, each worker spends 20 to 30 minutes adapting simple toys and up to two hours for complex toys. About 10 workers are needed to adapt at least five toys.

“That will give us a really good start on what we need,” McKown said.

Adapting a toy isn’t easy, but it’s worth the work.

“If you’ve never watched a child’s face light up, a child who has never had their own toy before ... it’s worth every bit of work that goes into it,” Symington said.

A lot of work, research and care is put into each toy. Things that toy adapters must consider include children chewing on the toys — or whether recipients use oxygen or not.

“Think of who you’re modifying for,” Ward told volunteers at a recent work session.

According to McKown, the toys are rewired so that children can push a switch connected to the toy with any movable part of their body, like an elbow or foot: “This allows them to play with their own toys.”

Toys such as Winnie the Pooh can be used for much more than just play.

“This same switch can be hooked up to a computer so ... they can learn their ABCs and do math problems. I think that’s so important,” McKown said.

Symington said the switches give the children training for the future. “A lot of development goes into this as far as things that will help children later in life,” she said.

“They’re just really happy to be able to play with their own toys,” said McKown. “Sometimes we get one or two of the kids who are overwhelmed and cry.”

Lorrie Willbergh-York, assistive technology specialist at ETTAC, said Toy Tech is “one of the best things” she gets to do at work.

“You see exactly what impact you’re having,” Willbergh-York said. “We see their potential, and it starts with getting enjoyment from a toy.”