Handiapped Website Strives to Empower the Handicapped

Frank Petrie is a reviewer and web designer with Multiple Sclerosis. He starts his welcome page at handiapped.com by saying, “This site is for those of us who have, or will have, bits dropping off.” One assumes that this is meant to be taken figuratively as well as literally.

Handiapped.com site logo

Petrie, who has a B.A. in communications from Temple University, clearly understands that a main key to living with disability is to cultivate a sense of humor about it.

With this new site, he hopes to “examine software and hardware to increase their productivity and to learn how to extend their functionality to make our lives more pleasurable.” He hopes that users will help shape the content.

Handiapped.com screen shot

Apart from featured articles, the site includes a forum. Some of the topics include cognitive maladies, dexterity, mobility, and care givers. There is also a computers section that covers all of the main platforms and the software that is most useful to disabled computer users. A growing links section provides targeted online resources.

Petrie hopes that handiapped.com will eventually grow to the point that users of the site will have a larger voice in political activism. He would also like to persuade companies to provide discounts for users.

As a disabled Mac user myself, I wish Frank the best of luck with this new endeavor.

Link: Handiapped via archive.com (the website was online for less than a year)