Hello!
My name is Dana, and I am a fellow person with disabilities.  Please understand I am not a professional writer or even a pretend to be writer, so this website and this post may have incorrect sentences, incorrect paragraphs, grammatical errors, etc. 😊

I’ve had a disability all my life due to being born with OI (Osteogenesis Imperfecta), a brittle bone disease.  I’ve broken bones 30 plus times in my life.
My first break was when I was 6 months old, in my crib. Not only am I looking forward to connecting with different people in general, but I’m also looking forward to connecting with those that are afflicted with OI like myself.  I’ve read that there’s not too many of us in the whole scheme of things.  It’s reported that there’s 25,000 to 50,000 people diagnosed with OI in the United States.  With the population of the United States being 329 million, that’s a tiny part of the population.  Hopefully, there’ll be at least one more on here besides me.

It wasn’t until I fell while on vacation almost 5 years ago that I became fully disabled and a full-time wheelchair user.  This changed my world dramatically and instantly. I started feeling the emotions and enduring the complications, whether emotional or physical, of living with a disability.
Everything from anger to loneliness to shame due to standing out in a crowd as being different, and the list goes on.

It was about two years ago that I had the idea of creating a website connecting persons with disabilities, but it was within the past year that the strong urge to do so set in.

Being home almost 24/7/365 is very trying on the mind.  I do get out from time to time with my husband and kids. But when I don’t, there’s only so much TV you can watch.  I live pretty far out in the country so friends and other relatives can’t just swing by and say hello.  They pretty much have to “plan” on coming to visit.  I’m not a big book reader.  I can’t do many chores around the house, thankfully I can stand on one leg for short times in order to cook a little, do a few dishes at a time and put loads of clothes in the washer/dryer.  Other than that, that pretty much leaves nothing to do, other than lots of time on the computer and internet.

While sitting home with not much to do, I began thinking there’s lots of people in the same place I am, and struggling with the same emotions and challenges as I.  So, the wheels were put into motion of how to connect us all so we could possibly have someone to connect with that understands what we’re going through.  Even though the site is geared to persons with disabilities, I’d love for those people without disabilities join us as well.
I wanted a forum style website in order to make a place to meet others, interact with others, ask for help, inspiration, prayers, or whatever someone from afar can assist with.
Maybe you need to know what works best for someone else on a task you’re trying to tackle, or their suggestions for adjusting your mindset to conquer and get past an emotional time.  The sky is the limit really, for the most part.
Not only would this website and forum help me, by interacting with others, but it could possibly help thousands of others as well. You’re probably wondering, do I not have family and friends to connect with and talk to?  I do, but none of them can “truly relate” to the obstacles and emotions I’m going through.  Also, although I could contact them at any time for anything, I wouldn’t feel right reaching out to them late at night or early in the morning if I had a common question or silly thought to say.  This way no matter what time of night or day, when a question or comment comes to mind, I can get on the forum before I forget what I was going to ask or say.  You have that same problem of forgetting what you were going to ask, what you were going to do or what you were looking for, right?  Oh good, makes me feel better.

I then embarked on putting thoughts to paper on what I’d like the site to represent and look like.  I want it to represent inclusivity, encouragement, be uplifting, be informational, be a safe space and be enjoyable.
In looks, I want it to be light and airy.  I don’t want a dark doomsday type website.
I purchased the domain name, which after researching, I came to find out I used the wrong terminology for a person who’s disabled.  The way I understand, the website name should’ve been named Persons with Disabilities Network.  For those who are offended at the name, please forgive me.  It’s too late now and I’m sorry!  I would have never known, had I not done the research.

I have plans to include helpful articles, personal stories, and much more. The huge forum will be the driving force of this site.  It includes many categories, and topics to choose from.  Everything from your normal topics such as food, recipes, gardening, hobbies, etc.
I believe the thing that’s going to set us apart from any other forum is, there’s also a substantial category listing 40 plus types of afflictions, illnesses, and diseases individually, which might make it simpler for you to connect with people sharing your same illness.  Once I get the forum established, I think we’ll always have someone to connect with and talk to via the keyboard.

Whew!  Who knew starting a website was such a huge undertaking!  According to what I’ve read in the past, it’s a pretty simple process.  Simply purchase a domain and start writing and publish.  That is not true.  That’s why there’s that saying that states, don’t believe everything you read.  Not only do you have to have a “vision” for your site, content and completed look (the fun stuff) in mind, there’s also laws, policies, permissions, and all that legal stuff to contend with.  It’s definitely been a learning experience and yes, I would do it all over again.  So, bear with me as I learn, and the site grows.  There may be a few growing pains, but we’ll get them worked out. Until I get it fine-tuned, what you see on Monday might not be the same when you come back on Tuesday.

I know, and I hope you understand, in the beginning it’s going to be bare and short of articles and forum discussions.  As we grow it will get better and better.  Once the site is complete, it is my hope you find this site useful, enjoyable, and a brightness to your day.  Make sure you join our forum in order to partake in the discussions already started by someone else, and/or start your own.  We’d also love it if you’d share our website info with your family and friends, invite and encourage them to become part of the community.  Thank you for your interest.  I hope to see you become a member of the forum, visit us regularly, and really enjoy your visit here.