Disaboom: A Web Company Making a Real Difference to People Touched by Disabilities

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first of the 78.2 million Baby Boomers turns sixty-two years old this year. With the Boomers that follow coming to an age where many of them will develop health issues or disabilities, an exciting new Internet company to watch grow and thrive over the coming year will be Disaboom, Inc. Since going live last fall with a startup fund of 14 million dollars, Disaboom has targeted an estimated 54 million underserved consumers---people with disabilities.

Disaboom is no lightweight when it comes to turning their plans into reality. With 500,000 visitors per month, they are well on their way to living up to their mission that states Disaboom wants "to create the first comprehensive, evolving source of information, insight, and personal engagement for the disability community." Plus, Disaboom is poised to enter the political policy arena. They have recently welcomed Senator Obama to share his views on empowering people with disabilities and the site plans to bring continued coverage of political issues that affects the disability community.

The backbone of Disaboom---the expert information and peer support for a wide array of medical conditions and disabilities---is mind-boggling. They have something for everyone and the demographic bulge caused by the Baby Boomers will create a wave of people searching for what they have to offer. Disaboom is certain to become a favorite one-stop resource for Boomers and their families facing lifestyle changes due to newly acquired disabilities such as osteoarthritis, stroke, chronic pain, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, hip and knee surgeries, and Parkinson's disease just to name a few of the medical conditions covered on Disaboom.com. A recent addition to Disaboom that will also be valuable to site users is the Marketplace for services and products.

Disaboom's potential for making positive quality-of-life differences for people with disabilities and their families is very real. Besides their medical experts, magazine quality articles and Marketplace, Disaboom has a social network for people with disabilities that includes blogs, profiles, message boards, discussions and groups. Disaboom also has an extensive Lifestyle Section for adaptive sports, travel, dating and relationships, accessible housing, parenting and family, military life, Boomers, entertainment, transportation, and much more. Another website feature of Disaboom that is sure to grow over the coming year is their Jobs Section. It's the perfect place to research workplace issues regarding people with disabilities and the website also has job search capabilities.

When Disaboom first went live a NEW YORK TIMES article said the company is "web marketing to a segment too big to be a niche." This is certainly true but they are building an impressive, free web service proving they haven't bitten off more than they can chew. It will be exciting to watch Disaboom's continued growth and to see the social and political changes ripple out from their online community into the real world.

What's next for Disaboom? The sky is the limit.