Posted April 15, 2013
Before Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1992, equality did not apply to people with a handicap. Since then, homes, businesses and marketplaces serving the public must also be accessible to a person with a handicap. Often, the only item that comes between a person with a disability and an assistive device is the cash to make the purchase.
Crowd-Funding
If the person with a handicap is also receiving SSDI, chances are the cash will need to come from another source. Until the age of technology and the internet, those sources were very limited and subject to many conditions. Today, we have a source that has become very popular over the past couple of years: crowd-funding.
Based on the premise that it takes a village to raise a child, many small contributions help reach the cost goal of an assistive device. The crowd grows exponentially relative to the size of the social network of choice. Most contributions will come from perfect strangers although an email list of family and close friends usually starts the ball rolling.
Likeliest Source
You need to walk the proverbial mile in shoes worn by a person with a handicap to know what assistive devices will improve the quality of life. It would help you understand that shelf-reachers, wheelchairs, power scooters, canes, ramps, stair lifts, vehicle lifts and many more items are not luxuries. They are necessities that will lead to the next degree of independence.
A sponsored grant could take up to a year. Applications to a research organization working on your disability will require proof and paperwork. Crowd-funding can happen overnight or take as much as 60 days. If you had to choose, crowd funding is the least complicated, has the most people and happens much quicker, which eliminates the frustration likely to occur when pursuing other avenues.
Where do I find Crowd-Funding?
Where are these crowd funding sites located? An online search for “crowd-funding for individual needs” will reveal the most effective sites available for this purpose. Choose one – or more that seem easiest to use and good luck!
