Spinal Cord Injury Update
Summer 2010: Volume 19, Number 3
Northwest Women Wheelers’ Network:
An Interview with Co-Founder Anne Bostwick*
Q: What is the Northwest Women Wheelers’ Network (NWWWN), and how did it get started?
A: The NWWWN is a social and support network for women who use wheelchairs. Five years ago, I found myself at a Spinal Cord Injury Forum (at the University of Washington) about women’s issues. Tammy Wilber (a friend with SCI) was also there, and about midway through the evening we looked at the roomful of women in wheelchairs, looked at each other, and you could practically see the light bulb over our heads. At the end of the forum, we began gathering names and emails, and our little support group was born.
My husband put together an email listserv with the 15 or so names we had gathered. From there, we used our network to “recruit” more women into our group, and little by little we grew into a group of nearly 60.
Whenever we’re out and about and we spot another woman in a chair, we connect with her and usually gain a new member. We also get referrals from health care providers and others who know about our group. We’re careful to screen new members (to make sure they really are women wheelchair users), we never share our email list with anyone, and there’s never any spam or junk mail. I am the list administrator.
The listserv is great because anyone in the group can send out an email with questions or comments, and we get some pretty lively discussions going. We also have an online forum that is open just to registered members.
Q: Who are NWWWN’s members?
A: It’s a hugely diverse group of great women from all “wheels” of life. Ages range from early 20s to 70s. We’ve got single mothers, married women, single women, women who work full time, part time, retired or not at all. Most of our members have spinal cord injuries but we have members with MS, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and other disabilities.
Q: In addition to the listserv, what are the NWWWN’s other activities?
A: For the last four years we’ve had a picnic in the summer and a holiday party in December. (See photo from the 2009 summer picnic, above.) Other than that we don’t have regular meetings, but instead have casual gatherings that start out like parties and end up providing support. We’ve partnered with Outdoors for All and had outdoor gatherings with cycling and kayaking, too.
Q: How has the NWWWN evolved in the last five years, and what do you see in its future?
A: Like the women in our group, it just gets better with age. I’ve never met so many interesting women. We even have a small political action committee that was recently involved with the disability parking issue at the Seattle Center. If the group gets large enough, who knows? I could see us doing charitable works and having even more gatherings and outings.
We started this group because the spinal cord injury community has traditionally been focused on men and men’s issues, and there was a real need for a women’s support group. At last year’s picnic I was almost moved to tears to hear a couple of new members say they’d never been around other women in wheelchairs before. At that point I knew we’d really done something wonderful.
If you’re a woman who uses a wheelchair for mobility and you’re interested in joining our Northwest Women Wheeler’s Network, send an email to info@nwwwn.org with a brief bio and we’ll sign you up. We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you.
*Anne Bostwick has had T10/11 incomplete paraplegia since 1996 and says “I am an avowed 'beadaholic' and am happily retired and live on Puget Sound’s Eastside with my husband and our three wonderful 'therapy puppies.'" Anne co-founded the NWWWN with Tammy Wilber.