For many online participants, support groups and recovery meetings on the Internet are merely a supplement to their regular face-to-face meetings, but for a growing number they are the only meetings they are able to attend.
When the first online meetings were scheduled in the chat meeting rooms at the About Alcoholism site, I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the true value of those "cyberspace" meetings. But then two events took place that changed my mind.
The first occurred after one of our regular weekend chat meetings. Several of us were hanging around after the meeting just chatting and from the conversation I soon realized that I was only person in the room who was not hearing impaired!
Much Appreciated
The conversation centered on how much those online meetings were appreciated because none of the others present could ever really get the benefit from most face-to-face meetings because they simply could not hear well enough.The other event took place more than two years later at the International 2000 Convention in Minneapolis. On Friday and Saturday afternoons, I was in one of the hospitality suites set up to demonstrate how online meetings worked. At one point Saturday in the suite, there were three people in wheelchairs.
Their stories were the same, although it was possible for them to attend face-to-face meetings, it was not nearly as convenient as it was to participate in online meetings, which they all did regularly.
Until the explosion of the growth of the Internet and with it the proliferation of online support groups and meetings, which has really only taken place in the last three years, those with disabilities and impairments had few opportunities to participate.
Total Access
As we pointed out in a previous article there are now many different ways that those who are disabled can take part in online meetings -- email discussion groups, real-time chat meetings, bulletin board discussions and even voice chat meetings.The availability of support and recovery is not restricted to those dealing with alcoholism, of course. Many of the About Health Guides have very active support communities in their chat rooms and forums.
Nancy Schimelpfening at the Depression site, Doug Larsen at Incest and Abuse, Marcia Purse and Kimberly Bailey at Bipolar Disorder, and Kathleen Henning at Anxiety and Panic Disorders to name a few, all have very active support communities.
For an ever increasing number, this kind of daily, around-the-clock support and help would not be available without the emergence of Internet technologies that have opened the accessibility door.
