House

Member since: 7/9/2007

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Why was Disaboom.com created?

1/20/2008 at 10:07 PM

A question that I am repeatedly asked when interviewed is why I wanted to create Disaboom.

Well, the answer is simple: education and support. When talking to patients at the bedside or in clinic, I routinely would combine my education from residency in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the fact that I have lived with a spinal cord injury (C7 complete quadriplegia) for 18 years. I realized that we could use the Internet to reach the world to deliver in-depth information about multiple conditions related to disability. This would allow ALL individuals the same access to medical information regardless of their ability (financially or geographically) to receive care at a top notch rehabilitation facility or from a knowledgeable physician.

On the other hand, I realize that some of the best education and support I received about living life with a disability came after I left rehabilitation and went back to college. This most useful education came not from a physician or healthcare professional, however, but instead came from sitting around the pool at my apartment. It was there that I met two other individuals with a condition similar to mine. One was a C5 quadriplegic and the other a T5 paraplegic. These guys taught me the “real” information I needed to know to live life, such as where to get supplies, what kind of wheelchairs were best, how to travel, possibilities for a family and much more. I came to believe that the Internet could be this support group sitting around the pool sharing useful information, but now it could be shared with the entire world.

From the beginning, I knew that I never ever wanted to charge anyone to use this site nor did I want to depend on donations to keep it going. Therefore, I contacted a friend of mine (JW Roth) who understands business and has an understanding about disabilities from our time together. We decided the only way to make this happen and sustain it was to create a revenue source through advertisers.

And now about the name! I wanted a name that had a hint of the word disability in it so you didn’t think it was a window-washing company or something else. I also wanted an Internet flair, so “boom” was added because we want to “blow the doors off previous perceptions of what disability means”. The word “disability” is not going away, but the stereotype of what disability means will be changed.

Therefore, Disaboom.com was born. We hope you enjoy it and help it grow!

Comments

On Jan 21, 2008 Deaf Mom said:

I am enjoying Disaboom very much. However, I am occasionally frustrated when I can't access a video without captions. I look forward to the day that I can access everything on the web!
On Jan 23, 2008 Debbie said:

hi glenn, i wish you and jw the very best of luck! thanks :) xoxo
On Jan 28, 2008 MillionDollarBabyaKaPaulK said:

hi, just joined, look foward to getting to know you and the rest of the disaboom community!PaulK
On Jan 28, 2008 MillionDollarBabyaKaPaulK said:

hi, just joined, look foward to getting to know you and the rest of the disaboom community!PaulK
On May 30, 2008 SpinergyDude said:

Dr. House,

I can not say how impressed I am with this site.

No really.

It is a long drawn out story, but let's just say that I almost sent you part of it in an PM... O,o I felt bad as I write way to much.

I will blog it as I can...

All I can tell someone like you... THANKS.

Thank you for doing this. It is actually apart of the dream I started... Last week.

So thank you.

Spinergy

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Why was Disaboom.com created?

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