GE engineers created switch-adapted toys for special-needs kids.
Engineering teams enhance toys for kids with disabilities
YSN Staff
A group of mechanical and electrical engineers at GE Appliances took on a very special task this holiday season.
Dubbed the GE Appliances Elf-gineers, the team turned an air conditioning lab at company headquarters into a Santa’s Workshop, where they augmented over 100 playthings with electrical switches for children with disabilities. The newly interactive toys, which would have cost families hundreds of dollars to purchase, were distributed to area kids to encourage independent play and engagement.
“It really is what our team does,” said Natalie Lyons-Donaway, a manufacturing engineer at GE’s sprawling Appliance Park facility in Louisville, Ky. “We know how to take things apart, go in, make the modification and then put things back together — and do it with safety and quality.”
The toys helped light up the lives of children and their families during the holiday season, GE said, and served as “a testament to our company’s spirit of inclusivity, innovation and community commitment.”
Click here to view a short video that tells the whole heart-warming story.
