I did some investigation. The Quicksand family of fonts are sourced from Google Fonts from which you can also download the same fonts https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Quicksand?query=Quick .
The glyphs in the Quicksand fonts downloaded from Google Fonts are exactly the same as the glyphs in the Quicksand fonts available in Adobe Fonts! And that includes the ampersand characters.
Where did you obtain your original Quicksamd font(s) from? Since Quicksand is a “open source” font, you can get the “source” of the font at https://github.com/andrew-paglinawan/QuicksandFamily
Interestingly enough, reading the description of the font at https://github.com/andrew-paglinawan/QuicksandFamily the history of the font shows the following:
Quicksand is a sans serif typeface designed by Andrew Paglinawan in 2008 using geometric shapes as it's core foundation. It is designed for display purposes but legible enough to use in small sizes as well. Quicksand Family is available in three styles which is Light, Regular and Bold including true italics for each weight.
ChangeLog 2013 October 21 (Andrew Paglinawan) Version 2.0
- Completely re-drawn from scratch
- Increased x-Height from 500 to 515 for better legibility
- Normalized weights
- Refined letterforms
- Improved kerning
- Improved spacing
- Replaced the Ampersand with something less flashy
- Added true italics for each weight
- Added Unicase
- Added Language support for Western, Central, South Eastern European and Afrikaans
2008 October 12 (Andrew Paglinawan) Version 1.0
Apparently, the font had major changes made to it seven years ago, going from version 1 to version 2. One of the major changes was in fact to the ampersand character to make it look “less flashy.” We now know the source of the problem. Regrettably, the version 1 of the font is not available from Adobe Fonts, Google Fonts, the Git repository ,or even from the designer's own website at https://andrewpaglinawan.com/typeface-design/quicksand-pro/.
Perhaps you can contact the font's designer at his own website per above and convince him to make a version of the font for you (expect to pay for that service) that restores the old ampersand design. Otherwise, you will simply need to use the very old version you are/were using.
Sorry but there is nothing that Adobe can do to assist you here nor was the change in the ampersand character done by or chosen by Adobe.
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