{yoocan}

Technology is an amazing thing. It allows us to connect with people you may not have ever had the opportunity to before. In just a couple of searches and clicks you find yourself connecting with so many. That has been a huge unexpected blessing I have found to be true in connecting with an even larger community of people I may not have gotten to know before Bernadette. I have been able to observe people’s lives through social media whether that be Instagram or personal blogs and connect with some amazing mamas.

It can be so overwhelming when you first get any sort of diagnosis. The first thing you want to do is research the topic. But there are so many sites out there each one leading you down a different rabbit trail. The little research I did on heart defects was enough to make me want to hide under the covers for days! Where I did find encouragement was being able to read personal accounts of heart surgeries and down syndrome and also starting to connect with other families with kids with DS on Instagram.

A few months after Bernadette was born, I came across a site called Yoocan. It is a wonderful site full of information about people who have different abilities. They feature the stories of these people and their families on their site. There are plenty of articles all in one place to search through. I did a quick search for Down syndrome and came up with many stories written by parents of kids with DS.

They reached out to me recently and asked if I would write a little about our lives with Bernadette, which you can find here. Of course I was more than happy to especially after checking out their site. They are raising awareness for all kinds of people with different abilities. I love sites that are created to help bring awareness to all kinds of special needs, to provide information from families who are living it, and also show how they are making their wildest dreams come true by not allowing the society to limit them.

I asked if they wouldn’t mind sharing some information with me so that I could write this blog post to share a little more about who they are and so I could link our story.

“Who started yoocan?

In July 2008, a young boy named Erez (my nephew) was born with a rare disease and complex cognitive and physical disabilities. This was the beginning of an emotionally challenging journey for my family. It brought us together in many ways, but it was hard as we needed to adjust to a new way of living. Like Erez, there are over 1 billion people in the world living with some kind of cognitive or physical disability, striving to live a better, inclusive life, and fulfill their dreams. This journey led my brother (Erez’s father) and myself to start yoocanfind.com.

Benefits of yoocan?

yoocanfind.com was created to be the leading empowerment source in the world for ideas, tips and solutions to make the life of people living with disabilities better and more inclusive. The goal of yoocan is to showcase all the incredible things that people with disabilities are doing. yoocan’s mission is to focus on what people can do, and not what they can not.

How many people on the site?

Currently we have over 1,000 story tellers from over 100 countries. Our popular Instagram page @yoocandoanything has over 23,000 followers! We didn’t know how fast yoocan would grow, but we have such a loyal community that is eager to spread the word to their family and friends. We see yoocan as one giant family.

Overall goal?

The overall goal of yoocan is to show the world the amazing things that people with disabilities are doing each and every day. From sky diving, to running marathons, to becoming Paralympian athletes, this group of people is accomplishing so many incredible things. Our goal is to reach every person with a disability living around the world. We want them to join the yoocan family, share their story, connect with others and see all that is out there!”

Thank you friends at Yoocan for doing what you do! Thank you for creating a space for others share their stories, a space for people to connect with other families walking the similar journeys, for bringing awareness to so many beautiful people while showing the amazing things they can do.

If you have people with your life that have any sort of different ability or you want to find out more, I would definitely encourage you to check out Yoocan and read some of the most inspirational stories they feature.