Update 10 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports"

Dear friends:

Thanks to 11 contributors, we have now raised $1,440 to help disabled individuals and their loved ones regain freedom and independence. At this moment, we have eight days plus 15.5 hours left to meet our fundraising goal. Can you please help?

Since launching seven weeks ago, we have reached thousands of people to share information about Scott, Ability Reports and our campaign objectives. Raising awareness is one of the most important things we hoped this campaign would help us achieve.
. 1,265 visits to our Indiegogo campaign page: http://igg.me/at/freeAR430/x/2985422
. 145 referrals to Indiegogo campaign
. 680 website pageviews: http://anability.com
. 500 blog pageviews: http://anability.blogspot.com
. 220 new Facebook followers: http://facebook.com/ability4all
. 4,350 Facebook impressions
. 2,564 Twitter impressions: http://twitter.com/an_ability

We're also proud to share two key findings from Scott's research to-date. For our first Recipients, their Ability Reports were crucial in these ways: (1) Helping a man based in Tennessee learn about and begin using new mobility options he was previously unaware of; (2) helping a man hospitalized in Maryland - and his family - navigate the healthcare/insurance system to maximize daily care and learn about new life choices available in Maryland and in Florida. Please rest assured that Scott will find a great use for any contributions you can offer.

Very best wishes - Roger and Scott Darnell

Update 9 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports" campaign

Dear friends:

This crowdfunding campaign began last month – about 24 years after Scott was rushed to the hospital following his diving accident in 1991. The years in between have been filled with a lot of learning and doing, resulting in us establishing the Ability Reports service, and launching this campaign to drive it into action.

The action part is what it’s all about. With your help, Scott is already at work helping several disabled individuals (our Recipients), their parents and loved ones find their ways through trying challenges. For 24 years, we had a leader in this form of active, loving perseverance; her name was Lila Darnell. Right away after Scott was injured, she threw herself into the fray, meeting doctors and caregivers, becoming part of paralysis support groups, finding and sharing vital information and putting it all into action. She made the experience as valuable as possible for her, her sons and her family, and even wrote a book about it so that others could better understand what to expect and get through it.

In honor of the great Lila, who passed away on Dec. 2, today we have established a new perk for the Please Fund Free Ability Reports campaign. Ideal for parents and loved ones in the early stages of dealing with a spinal cord injury – please choose the “From Lila with Love” campaign perk, and we will send you a paperback copy of Lila’s book, The Ghost Behind the Wheelchair.

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement friends. Please Fund Free Ability Reports here: http://igg.me/at/freeAR430/x/2985422

Looking forward!

Sincerely – Scott and Roger Darnell

Update 8 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports" campaign

It's "Giving #Today" friends - can we count on your support to fund free Ability Reports? Here is the official contribution link: http://igg.me/at/freeAR430/x/2985422

We are so very grateful for all of your support... and with our campaign's half-way point fast approaching next week, we're requesting financial donations that will be critical for our mission to succeed.

Also, we truly understand that there are endless worthwhile charitable organizations and causes - and that every penny counts for everyone during the holidays. Please mark your calendar to note that this campaign will end one week into the new year on Wed., Jan. 6. Today, tomorrow, or any day between now and then when you feel so moved, we welcome even small contributions - as well as feedback on the soundness of our mission and the information we're sharing as we progress.

As you can see, Scott is hard-at-work, and more results are shaping-up to be shared by us, our appreciative Recipients and their loved ones.

Best wishes - Roger D.

Update 7 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports" campaign

Dear friends:

Right now, thanks to your support, we are identifying Recipients for free Ability Reports. How is this being done? Essentially, every day, I am personally contacting individuals affiliated with all of these types of groups.
. Social workers/therapists at hospitals and rehabilitation centers
. Spinal cord injury support groups through hospitals, rehab centers and centers for independent living
. Peer counseling groups and their educators, therapists, etc.
. Vocational rehabilitation counselors in just about every state
. Sports groups - those who participate, their families, and attendees
. Other activity groups for those with disabilities
. Activist groups who support the disabled community
. Facebook - I am asking all of my friends to forward this campaign information on to their contacts
. Everyone knows someone with a disability! Remember that each of them has their own goals and networks.

So, each of you can help! You may run into someone on the street, at work, in a restaurant, at church, etc. Please spread the word to visit AnAbility.com and to reach out to me directly. Also, for anyone who might benefit from an Ability Report, tell me about them in the comments here, or email me contact information.

All the good things happening here due to our collective efforts are extremely inspiring to me. Thank you very much much for your generosity, and please keep us in mind moving forward. Thanks again everyone!

Best wishes - Scott D.
Phone: 1.618.292.1426

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving holiday, from our family to yours.

Update 6 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports" campaign

Dear friends:

We are a few weeks in and I'm incredibly excited! This is Scott Darnell - I wanted to let you know that our Ability Reports are finding their ways to people with varying needs, even beyond our original hopes. We are already helping people in different situations in numerous ways.

. Recently injured - we help with the path to mobility and also research, validate and share key information concerning further rehabilitation, independent living centers, home health agencies and other vital details regarding their specific HOME locations.

. Injured facing a change - whether it's relocation or time for equipment change, modification or updating, or even if it's time to replace their current mode(s) of transportation.

. Parents with disabled child who need to explore their local area for accessible activities, support groups, insight into available transportation, etc.

. For anyone with disabilities exploring travel for work or vacation - we can gather and validate info on the most accessible hotels and restaurants, area activities and other important logistical details like local weather and events.

With your support, I am getting in contact with people from every realm of the disabled community. In the next update, I will further discuss what's going into our research for Recipients. I'm sure you can relate how, from their perspectives, when people are willing to lend a helping hand without even knowing who they are, it is a profound and great experience. Thank you once again for making it possible.

Please fund free Ability Reports: http://igg.me/at/freeAR430/x/2985422

Very best wishes - Scott D.

Update 5 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports" campaign

Dear friends:

The goal of our Indiegogo campaign (http://igg.me/at/freeAR430/x/2985422) is to leverage the power of many to help newly disabled individuals (our Recipients) regain freedom and independence. If you haven't already, can you please make whatever donation you can afford to chip-in today? We're extremely grateful for your interest and your support, so please don't hesitate to ask us questions.

With your help, Scott is now busy creating Ability Reports for Recipients, aimed at helping them, their family members and supporters adapt to the difficulties they're facing, take control and succeed.

This started out as an idea in 2013, and now that he has his first funding in place, Scott is building his expertise and learning how best to focus. The first applications were about individuals wanting to get mobile again right at the point after experiencing disability, but he has also consulted for someone who was surprisingly injured during surgery, who needed to know how best to navigate the healthcare system according to their insurance and eligibility for benefits. Now, we are getting interest by different people where focused research, diligence, follow-through, consulting and advocacy are needed. It looks like one of the first Ability Reports funded by this campaign will be researching a new vehicle for a veteran wheelchair user and driver who was first injured several decades ago.

You can visit our website at http://AnAbility.com to learn more about what Scott anticipates putting into Ability Reports, but it's also safe to say that every one is going to be unique. We'll be back soon to share more information on the types of individuals Ability Reports are designed for and how Recipients can be nominated.

Very best wishes,

Roger & Scott Darnell

Update 4 on "Please Fund Free Ability Reports" campaign

Dear friends:

Please remember that the goal of our campaign is to leverage the power of many to help newly disabled individuals (our Recipients) regain freedom and independence. If we're successful in meeting our campaign's goals, Scott will be able to create Ability Reports for dozens of Recipients aimed at helping them (and their family and supporters) adapt to the difficulties they're facing, take control and succeed.

We are thrilled to report that after only 10 days our campaign has already raised $1,060! That's enough to fund four free Ability Reports. We have 49 days to go, and while this successful start is very exciting for us, we want everyone to understand just how important our cause is. Our next update will summarize what goes into creating an Ability Report. From there, we'll explain the process Scott's using to identify Recipients, and provide information on how the individuals that this campaign will support can be nominated.

Just for the record, Indiegogo is one of the world's most renowned and successful crowdfunding platforms. You can learn more about how secure it is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/trust

As I mentioned in my Nov. 12 update, Scott recently completed an Ability Report for another family member of ours. Here's a review from our sister-in-law Mary Kiefert, MBA, who is VP of Operations for Brooks AmeriCare Home Health.

Interview with Scott Darnell: Drawing, Art and Creativity

How long after your accident did you start taking-on the creative/art projects you created using a typewriter - and writing your life story?

It was about 15 months after my injury while I was at an independent living center. I had a few friends who enjoyed cross stitching, and I thought I could use a typewriter to do patterns for them. The surprise and enjoyment everyone shared when seeing them made it easy to continue - and yes, those first several were done on a typewriter.

It took another year for me to start writing things down, as my brother's hooking me up with a computer truly changed the "world" I lived in. I thought there were some memories too precious to forget, and I wanted to challenge my ability to report it as I would hope - so that readers could close their eyes and visualize it, without going too far and making it boring.

Briefly, what drove you to do these things?

Pleasing/surprising others, proving to them and myself that there was much more to Scott Darnell than the previous physical person I was.

What did you get out of them?

I like to affect people in a positive way.

More about Scott Darnell and Ability Reports

Dear friends: Thank you very much for your interest in this new venture, where the main mission is helping newly disabled and other wheelchair users regain freedom and independence and return to what most of us consider to be normal lives. Our main path for providing these services is for Scott Darnell to create a customized Ability Report for our honored Recipients. We will be sharing information with you here about how Recipients are identified and chosen, about how to nominate someone to receive an Ability Report, the types of things the Reports focus on, etc. First, I wanted to take you behind the scenes to let you know more about Scott himself.

Twenty-four years ago, Scott experienced his own life-altering spinal cord injury. To say that we all learned a lot during and after that time is an understatement. The difficulties really piled-up on us at the beginning, in the early stages of dealing with all the changes. Not only was Scott in the fight of his life, but the way information was communicated to his loved ones - and the ways that we passed word among ourselves and our people - was complicated, emotional and tough. Recently, Scott created an Ability Report for another family member of ours, and this made it clear once more how different people deal with difficulties. Suffice to say, it's not easy to see someone you love go through such a hard time, and the aspects of sharing updates, gathering advice and helping to make decisions in unknown, scary situations is all-encompassing and exhausting in the early going. This makes me think of an anecdote our mother shared with me, after paying Scott a visit right after he'd gone to rehab. When she confided to a nurse how hard it was to see her son going through that, the nurse told her that many parents never return after that first visit.

Honor military veterans

November 11 is Veterans Day here in America, a day of honor and celebration that has its roots in "the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918, when Germany signed the Armistice to end World War I. I have written before about what this day means to me. My military service took place during the relatively peaceful era of 1985 to 1990, but it still wasn't all that easy. I know firsthand about the dread of boot camp, and the difficulty of enduring even basic training... but to me, my motivation was clear: I wanted to serve my country.

Through those experiences and others, I came to have ultimate respect for those who have gone far beyond "basic training" to become the Marines, the SEALS, and other elite members of our special forces... whose bravery and daily commitments are seemingly made of granite. It is nearly impossible to duly honor them and express the appreciation they deserve.

Below, I am very proud to share the touching personal message I received from my cousin, whose son graduated around this time in 2011 as a Navy SEAL. Throughout the ordeal of her son's training, we received updates of the harrowing experiences -- one after the other -- that this young man, and others like him, were willingly facing in order to serve our country. He was literally knocked back time and again, and each time, he stepped back up with even more determination; he never gave up, and today, his dream of being one of America's finest and best trained specialists is a reality. And like everyone who wears a military uniform, ultimately, he did all of this to serve us.

As you read this and otherwise participate in Veterans Day in your chosen ways, please think of those young people who have dedicated their lives to the military, and consider reaching out somehow to let them know you appreciate them. Also, I invite you to learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project, and consider making a donation. Thank you!

Please fund free Ability Reports!

Dear friends:

Today, many months of planning come to fruition with the launch of our crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, which you can access here:
http://igg.me/at/freeAR430/x/2985422
The goal of our campaign is to leverage the power of many to help newly disabled individuals (our Recipients) regain freedom and independence. More specifically, if we are successful in meeting our campaign's goals, Scott will create Ability Reports for dozens of Recipients aimed at helping them (and their family and supporters) adapt to the difficulties they are facing, take control and succeed.

As you will see, we have set up several levels of support to provide everyone a means to contribute.
$25 - Ability Fellowship
$100 - Ability Hero
$255 - Ability for One
$300 - Ability Explorer

We are very optimistic about the prospects for this campaign to generate bona-fide results for our Recipients. We respectfully invite you to learn more about Scott, and to help us validate his work by funding free Ability Reports.

Thank you!

Sincerely - Scott and Roger Darnell

Welcome

Since 2003, Scott Darnell has been creating customized mobility solutions for himself and other wheelchair users. After debuting a show-stopping proprietary system at the 2006 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, three years later at the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association Annual Conference in Daytona Beach, he earned the NMEDA and Adaptive Driving Alliance New Technology Award for Innovation in Engineering and Technology for the physically challenged. Scott's experience and expertise can help you get back on the road in style.

Please stay-tuned here and on Facebook for news on developments we hope you'll find to be of interest... as Changing Stares, its partners and friends help others find and create the perfect solutions.

Solutions

Thank you very much for visiting the official website of mobility solutions provider Scott Darnell. Since experiencing a life-altering spinal injury in 1991 at the age of 27, Scott has risen as a nationally recognized expert on the mobility needs of wheelchair users. A highly resourceful, ambitious, independent C-5/6 quadriplegic, he has counseled medical professionals, others with spinal injuries and their families, transforming his experiences and dreams into numerous inventions aimed at helping create important new mobility options for others in chairs.

Scott has earned recognition for innovation, ambition and passion, having designed successful, stylish and award-winning custom mobility solutions for himself and other drivers in wheelchairs. In the recent past, his support for others has been especially hands-on, interfacing directly with U.S. regional and national government officials to ensure his and his partners’ custom solutions gain all necessary permits and approvals. Building on these experiences, Scott’s counsel continues to grow more impactful. Constantly at work on original product ideas and consulting on custom projects, he values friends new and old, and looks forward to helping everyone succeed. Please contact Scott to discuss your situation today. He looks forward to hearing from you and helping you find the perfect solution.