Experiencing and coping with a spinal cord injury can be a devastating and terrifying ordeal to go through, and it is not uncommon for people to experience a variety of emotions, including depression and fear.
Learning to adapt to your new circumstances, perhaps even grieving for your life before a disability, are both common experiences that you don’t have to go through alone. In order to reach acceptance of what has happened and move on with your life in a positive way, you may find speaking to people who have experienced similar situations, thoughts, and feelings, is a truly liberating and helpful action.
Oftentimes the best way to deal with something stressful is simply to talk about it. Your friends and family are probably providing the best support that they can. But they may not be able to relate to everything that you are going through in the same way as someone who has been through the same thing.
In this case, perhaps it may be better for the process of acceptance to discuss with people who 'feel your pain', know exactly what you are talking about, and have likely even felt the same emotions as you.
Sharing experiences can be an emotive and moving experience, which can help you open up to people who may be able to offer helpful advice from 'someone who knows'.
Below is a list of spinal cord injury forums which offer helpful advice and a platform to reach out to others who are suffering from or know someone who has been through a traumatic injury. These are safe places for you to connect with like-minded (and like-situational) peers with whom you can directly relate to.
These forums offer support to not only people afflicted with spinal cord injuries, but their peers, parents, family members and others who may need to communicate with others for support, ideas information and to share experiences. FacingDisability was a specifically created website to connect those whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injuries. It has more than 1500 videos of people telling you how they deal with spinal cord injury.
Inspired is a spinal cord injury support community, where you can find extensive topics covered in forums, such as continuing education following spinal cord injury, disability benefits, disabled travelling, and working with a disability. More than 600 global users rely on this site to share their experiences.
Actor and activist Christopher Reeve was paralysed in an equestrian competition in 1995 and because of this, he eventually became chairman of the board of the Christopher Reeve Foundation; an organization that supports research into developing treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Their online Paralysis Resource Center provides a wealth of information for families and peers, along with advice articles, and local resource lists.
Apparelyzed believes in enabling independence through social interaction, and so proves a great resource reaching people far and wide. The forum describes itself as active and vibrant community, that covers a multitude of subjects that people can discuss experiences, feelings but also practical advice such as sports for the disabled, accessible daily living activities and spinal cord autobiographies and stories.
Unfortunately it appears Apparelyzed is no longer active, additional information may be found on Inspired SCI Forum