Good day all,

I started a ONElist community on the 14th for people with disabilities in the
Northern Virginia area, and I want to share this information with you.

Originally, I went to ONElist to see if there was already something like this
so I could advertise my nature program for children with disabilities.  I
didn't find anything though, so I decided to start one myself.

My thought is that regional disability unity can be very beneficial.  I
visited the Alexandria Commission for persons with disabilities last year,
when they asked me to submit an application to be on the commission.  One of
the discussions in that meeting was how to reach people with disabilities in
Alexandria.  Due to time and physical constraints, I never submitted the
application, but I never forgot that discussion either.  There are
organizations for each Northern Virginia region: The Fairfax Commission for
Disabled persons; the Arlington Office for Physically Disabled Persons, etc.
Personally, I am not able to visit my own commission meetings, but I am
interested in the decisions that come from those meetings.  Periodic
notifications to a ONElist community of Northern Virginians with disabilities
from each of the regional entities serving the disability population would be
useful, I think, for all of us.

Additionally, by calling the Alexandria City Hall this morning for an
entirely different reason, I discovered that there is some activity for
persons with disabilities at Alex.  City Hall this coming Saturday.  I didn't
know anything about this before.  I am sure they have used an advertising
medium of some sort, and I just didn't read the right thing.  Nevertheless,
if we banded together in some way, such as by subscribing to the list that I
am proposing, then upcoming activities could be posted on a calendar.

If you are willing to participate, I will be willing to maintain this
ONElist, and a calendar of events.  I will advertise to the regional
disability service offices, and lobby to have them notify us of meeting
agendas and outcomes, upcoming events that serve the disability populations
of each region, etc.  Of course, this could be a useful place for regional
disability rights discussions, and discussions of a various nature pertaining
to the disability community.

Naturally, a thing such as this will take time to grow, but it must start
somewhere.  If you are interested, you can subscribe to the ONElist by
visiting this site:

http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/disabilitynova

Thanks very much for your time today,
Betty Alfred