From time to time we like to highlight organizations that are doing exceptional work. This blog post is dedicated to a new organization called AbleThrive. AbleThrive seeks to connect people with disabilities and their families to a support network that includes how-to videos and other resources. This is the story of how AbleThrive came to fruition written by founder Brittany Martin.
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After the car accident that paralyzed my dad and killed my younger brother, we were told that my dad would never walk again. We had no idea how to fathom our new reality.

Thankfully, the hospital connected my dad to other quadriplegics and my stepmom to other spouses to offer advice and support. My dad re-learned every aspect of his daily life and the rest of us adapted to our new normal. I related to other families whose lives were affected by disability. The more I felt these connections, the more I sought them out—most formatively when I was abroad my junior year college in China. I conducted a one-month study investigating the lives of people with disabilities.

At a rehabilitation hospital in the city, I met a man from a small village with an absolutely magnetic smile who was paralyzed from the waist down. It wasn’t until we started to talk about his future that his smiled dimmed. “When I go home, I’ll go back to bed,” he told me. Plagued by inaccessibility and negative perceptions of disabilities, he had no concept of what was possible for him. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I walked out of the facility. He has too much potential to have such a bleak future.

I moved to a village to continue my investigation. My new host father had lost most of his leg in a construction accident. I lived with him and his family for two weeks, but I felt the strength of our connection and understanding in just two hours. On day two, I was declared a part of their family.

My host father was so curious about my dad’s life in the US and vice versa. I often found myself translating phone conversations between them:

How do you climb the mountain to pick tea without a leg?

How do you drive if you can’t move your legs and fingers?

Each was intrigued by the adaptations the other had made to live their lives—despite the fact that one was an electrical engineer raised in the US and one was a farmer in rural China.

Their interactions taught me a with a fundamental truth:

Anyone touched by a disability is ultimately united by it.

I struggled with the fact that despite their natural connection, it was next to impossible to have them meet. As I contemplated the situations of others in the same situation as my family, I realized how many people were geographically isolated—unable to meet others in their situation and out of reach of resources. I began to understand how lucky my family was when my dad was first injured with the support we had that got us on a path of recovery and adaptation. I was troubled by the thought of the man in rehab destined for a life in bed and so many other people’s stories that had touched my life and opened my eyes to the reality that plagued the entire disability community. What could I do about it?

And then it hit me.

THE INTERNET.

Once the match had been struck the fire burned as my mind unraveled the potential. Experiences, advice, and information could be shared. No one would have to experience the isolation of disability. No one would be geographically isolated. I could create a mechanism that allowed families like mine to share and collaborate across borders—uniting us all in something greater. An empowered community that understood that people with disabilities should be encouraged to redefine their abilities, thereby redefining negative stereotypes simply by fulfilling the potential they didn’t know they had. People living their lives like my dad and host dad in China wouldn’t be anomalies. We could live in a society where people with disabilities thrived as active citizens.

This was my moment of obligation—the idea that did not let me rest and there was no turning back. Now, I am the founder of AbleThrive, an online support network that empowers people with disabilities and their families to thrive with crowdsourced advice and innovations. As we unite this empowered community, we promote a culture where everyone, no matter what, is seen and valued for their abilities.
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To find out more about AbleThrive visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter to get involved! And don’t forget to visit Mycharitymap to find other wonderful organizations doing great work.