Hey guys,

        Here's the Summary and Conclusion of the article on this list in
the Journal of Cyberpsychology and Behavior.

Summary and Conclusions

        The functions served by this mailing list provides a needed source
of emotional validation, information and catharsis for persons
participating on it. This list, then, is a unique and vital recourse for
its members. Not all persons find what they seek from this list. Such
persons join the list and leave it, soon after. Others have been members
for sometime. For those who have remained, the list many time functions as
a family, a support group, a peer group as well as a source of information.
Just as most nuclear families afford an individual a safe environment to
vent and try out news ideas, this list affords its members the opportunity
to get feedback from persons the participants trust and feel has similar
views and experiences. Just as in a family, "feuds" break out and some
members feel a period of discomfort. On most lists, these "feuds" are
termed "flame wars" in which some members write scathing rejoinders to one
another over some disputed thread. This CP mailing list has had several
such disputes.As a support group, the list functions to disseminate
survival information to participants. The young man with the problem
holding a small telephone receiver received this type of information from
the group.Sometimes members just want to communicate good news or share
their troubles with the group. Such members are not looking for solutions,
but rather for the opportunity to share "the good and bad", i,e., the birth
of a child, a wedding or a parent's death. The group rallies around these
members and offers appropriate congratulations, condolecences and general
affirmation of significant events in the lives of its members. These
functions afford a resource to persons with cerebral palsy which did not
exist before the growth and development of cyberspace resources.
        Another critical function of such a list is its potential for
education and research.Many professional persons needing to know about
cerebral palsy can access a unique and valuable quality of information
which might other wise be unavailable. Reading posts to the list could
educate the interested professional to the human side of disability. It
avails the professional access to issues as seen by the affected persons in
many senses. If a researcher could gain the confidence of persons on this
list, there are many possibilities for research. However, in the opinion of
this writer, this would require a lenghy time as a member of this mailing
list in order to gain trust and credility
with the membership.