Sydney, Australia (PRWEB) July 11, 2008
Energetica, IT consultancy specialist in the not-for profit sector, together with Australia’s The Spastic Centre, have developed and launched four innovative blogs designed to provide a voice for people living with cerebral palsy (CP) at http://www.cpblogs.org.au.
Energetica’s Director Lisa Harvey said the launch of the blogs will be significant in raising awareness and improving the understanding of CP in the community.
“I am hoping that the powerful stories of peoples’ lives told on the blogs will create a sense of community around the bloggers and provide an insight into the difficulties and joys of people living with a medical condition. The bloggers will be talking about their real lives and will provide an insight into how people live with CP,” said Energetica’s Lisa Harvey.
Energetica was engaged by The Spastic Centre to plan the structure and technology for the blogs along with constructing the CSS templates. Energetica also tested the tools for accessibility with people who have cerebral palsy. This was an important part of the process as the management tools had to suit people who have some physical difficulty using computer technology.
“All of the technology used by Energetica for this project was open source. We used the Joomla! Content Management System to build the four sites, with the Myblog and Jomcomment components. This adds blog style content functionality so that they can be easily managed from the front end. RSS, social bookmarking and other tools are all supported as are the multiple bloggers,” said Energetica’s Lisa Harvey.
The blogs provide a mechanism for people to share information and tell their stories. There are two blogs written by people with CP. One focuses on the web and technology, and the other shares very real social experiences of life with CP. The third blog, written by a father of a child with CP, offers a compelling, family perspective on living with a disability. Each of these people have different approaches to life and a different outlook to living with CP.
The final blog is written by staff at The Spastic Centre sharing news, activities, events, websites and classifieds for people with CP and their families.
The project commenced in 2007 but was delayed due to the fire that devastated The Spastic Centre administration building before Christmas.
Visit the blogs developed by Energetica for Spastic Centre at http://www.cpblogs.org.au.
About Energetica:
Energetica provides IT advice, strategy and web-based technology to the not-for-profit community and helps organisations build their IT capacity and manage it into the future by understanding the unique requirements of not-for-profit community-based, member-based organisations and SMEs. Energetica works with SMEs, peak bodies, trade unions, charities, associations and community organisations.
About The Spastic Centre:
The Spastic Centre was one of the first organisations of its kind in the world. It was started in 1945 by two parents, Neil and Audrie McLeod, who had a daughter with cerebral palsy (CP). Together with a small group of families they developed services and programs for children and adults with CP. Today, The Spastic Centre delivers essential services across 70 sites in NSW and the ACT.
Cerebral palsy affects movement, and is the result of damage to the developing brain, usually before birth. It is the most common physical disability in childhood. One in every 400 babies born in Australia will have cerebral palsy. Babies most at risk of CP are those born prematurely or with low birth weight. Globally, the incidence of CP has not declined despite advances in medical technology.
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