How FacingDisability.com Used Video to Connect People When They Needed it Most

For patients and families who are impacted by a spinal cord injury, FacingDisability.com is the destination where questions are answered, support is offered and strength is discovered as real people tell their stories with honesty and insight. With a video library of more than 3,500 videos, FacingDisability.com covers every aspect of spinal cord injury with focused interviews featuring doctors, psychologists, therapists, rehabilitation experts and above all, people with spinal cord injuries and their families.

“YOU ARE NOT ALONE”

This is the resounding message of FacingDisability.com, whether it’s you or a family member who’s experienced a spinal cord injury. The suddenness of this injury, combined with the relatively rare amount of cases, leaves families in the difficult position of being unprepared and isolated. This is exactly what happened to Thea Flaum and her family when their daughter Vicki was disabled at age 19. Flaum channeled that fear and frustration into the creation of FacingDisability.com, with a mission to offer a human connection that says in the most simple and powerful way that “we’ve been there and we’ve done that.” And nothing delivers that raw, truthful message like video.

THE UNMATCHED POWER OF VIDEO

The sound of a voice. The look of a smile. The pause between words where nothing is heard--but everything is said. These are the moments that only video can deliver, and FacingDisability.com makes this experience up close and personal. It’s just the person and the camera, answering intensely personal questions: What was the hardest part of the first days in the hospital? What’s become easier over time? How do you handle anger? How do you see your future? The answers—unvarnished, unrehearsed and without tears or words of inspiration—give spinal cord injury patients and their families the most accurate view of life they could ever expect. And those videos, in turn, provide them with a valuable connection to this new, overwhelming world which has been thrust upon them.

CREATING A CONNECTION

For patients and their families dealing with the isolation and fear associated with a spinal cord injury, these videos create a one-on-one experience that truly deepens their understanding. These experiences reflect the guiding principle of FacingDisability.com: Nobody knows what you’re going through like someone who is living with it. And finding that “someone” is a key element of FacingDisability.com. Its extensive video library lets people search specifically for parents, spouses, siblings, friends, etc, who have dealt with spinal cord injuries. “What you’re getting are honest, human responses,” says Flaum. “Video gives you the power of the image, the power of the close-up. As a result, you get to see real people talking about their experiences in a revealing, straightforward way.”

A NEW VIDEO SERIES FacingDisability.com released a new 10-part video series called, “Voices of Experience - Living With Spinal Cord Injury.” Created for national distribution to in-hospital TV networks, healthcare institutions and online audiences, it’s just the next step in the partnership with FacingDisability. com and Brightcove® as new avenues are explored in the future of video. In the words of Thea Flaum, “whatever happens next, Brightcove is going to be part of making it happen.”