Mr Lawrence Roper, a qualified adult placement carer, has had a long history of caring for disabled people. This has been clearly evident in the 20 years he dedicated in raising his disabled nephew, Darren. Apart from Darren he has four other disabled people in his family and continues to offer his unconditional support to them. Lawrence biggest challenges facing this kind of responsibility has been the lack of social services dedicated to helping disabled peole which others take for granted. Such as creating and meeting new friends, visiting places of entertainment in groups, as well as the ability to talk in debates, participate in global forums about things that may effect them.
Lawrence relentlessly scoured the internet for such a unified and comprehensive area that addressed this lack of service, but there was nothing. He spoke to many people both in the UK social services and in the disabled community and it quickly it became quite clear what a huge problem this is for disabled people everywhere. He raised the idea of a dedicated internet site with the authorities and organisations that represent disabled people. They were hugely enthusiastic but couldn't take it on as a project themselves because no funding was available. So he decided to use his own savings and tackle the issue himself for the benefits of others worldwide. He has spent more than £300,000 initiating disabledfreinds.com, after collaborating with and obtaining the positive views of groups and organisations that represent disabled people.
Disabledfriends.com has been aided considerably by a specialist focus group to create and develop a secure & robust web site, and a steering group of advisors on issues affecting disabled people, with the aim of making disabledfreinds.com a global success.
There are more than 10.6 million disabled people in the UK alone, many of whom are computer literate and depend on their computer for communication and entertainment. Disabledfriends.com will address this problem by offering local and global friendship services, take and share experiences online, arrange meetings and build local and worldwide relationships, in a secure environment. The site will include an entertainment section, an information resource with links to relevant agencies and in the near future, offer a wealth of global information regarding specialised holidays, transport, health & safety, accommodation, legal issues and work etc. Membership is free and the site will not carry advertising. There will be a minimal charge for higher levels of membership, giving access to special features or provisions. In the disabled community, nobody can understand why such a service does not already exist.