Social Enterprise Stories
AbleThrive
Brittany Déjean started AbleThrive to allow all people with disabilities and their families to have access to the resources they need to thrive. Her father was paralyzed in a car accident when she was young, and he was able to adapt and live well with his disability thanks to the help of mentors and support from his hospital. Years later, she met people with disabilities who were not maximizing their potential or living well, ultimately assuming that their disability meant their life was over. She saw that access to resources made all the difference because it not only exposes people to what’ s possible, but it also gives them the tools to reach their goals. Our philosophy is that everyone deserves a chance to thrive, and we are making sure that we can be there for families impacted by disabilities.
We have a simple strategy of consolidating various articles, videos, products and services about disability wellness into a central hub. This enables us to complement the activities of social enterprises around us and establish mutual beneficial partnerships whose work we can promote.
At our AbleThrive launch event in February 2016, one of our panelists met a wheelchair user who is relatively new to it. After their conversation at our event, our panelist saw that she could help her build strength and independence. Since that night, they meet once a week to push their wheelchairs together, our panelist now mentoring her. It was incredible validation for the potential of strengthening the local community in Singapore.
Sustainability, especially in the early stages, is a consistent challenge. There are a lot of constraints around funding that can complicate securing the necessary early investments to build a thriving team and product.
We envision being the starting place where people to go to learn how to live well with a disability. We also see that our work in Singapore locally to build community and share local stories will be replicated in cities around the world.