Like many projects of this nature, FacingDisability.com was born out of personal experience. In the summer of 1986, after diving into a swimming pool, our daughter, Vicki Hill, sustained a neck injury resulting in quadriplegia. During her rehabilitation, Vicki was fortunate to be able to participate in a peer- mentoring program. The program introduced her to other people who had sustained injuries
like hers a few years before. They helped her learn how to think about her disability and live with her new body. They offered a lot more than well-meaning help and advice. They were the undeniably believable and unquestionably honest voices of experience. And they were an enormous help. But there was no peer-mentoring program to help her parents, family and friends to deal with the new life situations that they themselves were experiencing as a result of Vicki’s sudden disability. There is still virtually nothing today—no program focused on personally supporting the people around the injured person. What’s more, even today, there are many people with new spinal cord injuries like Vicki’s who are not able to participate in peer-mentoring programs. The lack of such programs is the reason behind FacingDisability.com.
