"GimpGirl Grows Up" Article Summary

Inspired by her participation in the DO-IT program for teens with disabilities, Jenifer Cole and her mentor Len Burns founded the center for Breaking Away. It is a nonprofit organization for disabled youth transitioning to adulthood. This organization originally housed the GGC project, but was dissolved after the GGC project outgrew the center.The GGC was founded in 1998 as a collaboration of young women with disabilities who shared dissatisfaction with preexisting services and communities, which appeared incapable of fulfilling the needs of these youth in transition to adulthood.

GGC was created to fight back against abusive situations Jenifer had encountered, and to counterbalance her early heteronomous role of being a passive daughter/child with a disability. She established it when she was only 18 or 19 to form a community in which people collectively help each other through tough time as those with disabilities. The domain gimpgirl.com was registered in February 1998 initially as Jennifer’s personal website. However, it was almost immediately handed over to the GGC. This GGC site was one of the first sites dedicated to women with disabilities based on self-diagnosed disability, without restrictions on age, sexual orientation, or types of disability. Offered resources and links to news from the disability community.

The name “Gimpgirl” originated from a nickname Jenifer’s friends called her when she was a teenager. By sharing her nickname with the group Jenifer motivated herself and other group members to get each other through life. GGC members have become increasingly accepting of the term GimpGirl. At first, many felt it was rude. But after they thought deeper into it, they realized the term is upfront and confident while it takes away any sense of pity.

An important characteristic of the GGC today is their active search for and implementation of new technologies to facilitate member participation and community development. Seeks new technology to deliver and develop desirable content for its members. For example, the GGC has created an account on the LiveJournal platform in an effort to diversify access and to reduce duties for moderators. In this system, users were able to maintain their own accounts and benefitted from a variety of available communities.

The theme of the GGC is a double whammy; living as women and living with a disability. Over the past decade, the GGC and its members have changed many lives, and they continue to constantly look for new ways in which to challenge medical/institutional discourses, as well as public perceptions of women with disabilities.