Source: Xinhua
02-25-2009 15:19
Special Report: Tech MaxBEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet)-- Life may no longer be "tougher and boring" for disabled kids as an Australian organization hopes to alleviate the pain of the special children through an online social network launched last week.
Livewire is the first social network website as that of Facebook of its kind for sick kids in Australia.
According to child health statistics, an estimated 450,000 Australians aged between 10 and 21 are currently living with a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability, and the website hopes to ease their growing pains and become a support network for them.
"This whole relationship that the kids can create with others is really to help them secure the friendships that they may be missing out in the real world," said Omar Khalifa, managing director of Livewire
"We keep hearing from these children that they want to be normal; they don't want to dwell on their illness. One boy wrote to us and said 'I'm paralyzed from the waist down but when I come on Livewire I know I'm not as bad as others,'" Khalifa said.
Livewire provides a safe and fun online community where members can share experiences, Khalifa said. Like MySpace or Facebook, users can play games, access blogs and enter chatrooms.
Livewire recruits members from referrals through its parent organization, the Starlight Children's Foundation, and the hospitals that treat disabilities or chronic cases. The site has stringent security measures in place to ensure members be safe from cyber bullying and other threats.
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Editor:Yang Jie
