United Spinal Association announced it has acquired AbleThrive to ensure people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) have greater access to resources and support.
In the coming months, United Spinal and AbleThrive will combine their life-enhancing resources, information, and technology onto United Spinal’s website, creating an extensive online support network for wheelchair users and other individuals with mobility disabilities.
This will further enhance outreach to United Spinal’s growing membership community that includes individuals with SCI/D, their family members, friends, and healthcare providers.
“As we emerge from this pandemic, it’s vital that people living with SCI/D get the very best support to pursue greater independence. Bringing AbleThrive’s resources under United Spinal will allow us to help more people overcome the hurdles of living with disability,” said Abby Ross, United Spinal’s Chief Operating Officer.
Since its founding in 2014, AbleThrive’s mission has been to leverage technology to connect people with SCI/D and their families to disability-specific support resources that were readily accessible online, but difficult to find and navigate.
“We saw great potential in curating and organizing relevant content on our website so that people didn’t have to spend hours scouring the internet on their own,” said Brittany Déjean, Founder and CEO of AbleThrive.
Since its launch, AbleThrive has sourced articles and videos from its partner network of more than 250 organizations, bloggers, hospitals and companies and organized over 1,500 articles on its website by category and level of mobility.
“I’m proud of what we have achieved over the last 7 years with the support of our team and community, and as AbleThrive becomes a part of United Spinal’s robust resources and services, I’m excited to see how everything we built can have an even greater impact,” added Déjean.
AbleThrive has been shared as a tool in 15 spinal cord injury rehab centers in 4 countries and was featured in the 2017 AT&T documentary “Resolution: Innovative Thinking About Disability” and in Forbes and NPR.
It was also selected as a part of the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship and Global Good Fund Fellowship and received a community service award at the South by Southwest Conference.
About United Spinal Association
Formed in 1946 by paralyzed veterans, United Spinal is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to empowering people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), including veterans, to live successful and fulfilling lives. Membership is free and open to all individuals with SCI/D, with over 53,000 members across 50 chapters nationwide. Known for its revolutionary advocacy efforts, United Spinal played a significant role in writing the Americans with Disabilities Act, provided important contributions to the Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Air Carrier Access Act, and was instrumental in attaining sidewalk curb ramps and accessible public transportation in New York City, which created the standard accessibility model used in many United States cities.
About AbleThrive
Founded in 2014, AbleThrive is an online platform that connects people with spinal cord injuries and disorders and their families to curated and customized resources covering a variety of topics, including life skills, parenting, relationships, activities, and travel. Beyond sharing resources, AbleThrive also fostered a global online community of individuals who believe in living life to the fullest and changing how the world sees disability.