New Website Aims To Help Hoosiers With Disabilities Find Services

A Fort Wayne-based disability advocacy group created a website that will help people with disabilities find services throughout Indiana.

The organization that created the website, Fifth Freedom, says although the website, IndianaPop.org, was officially launched Friday, thousands of people have already used it.

The website allows people to search for disability services, which vary from infant services to senior law. Fifth Freedom’s Director of Communications Doug Schmidt says it’s important to realize that disability affects many Hoosiers.

“People with disabilities aren’t just some faceless cause out there,” Schmidt said. “They’re not a special interest group. People with disabilities are our friends, our family members, our loved ones.”

According to the Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities, about 19 percent of Indiana’s total population has a disability.

Schmidt says the website is unique because no other site brings together disability services from around the state in a way that is easy to search. The website is accessible for people with disabilities, with options to increase the font size and adjust the color contrast for people who are visually impaired. It’s called IndianaPop.org because Schmidt says the services pop right up.

“Ninety-five percent of people were able to find help on Indiana Pop faster than a search engine because it’s disability specific,” he said.

Schmidt says the website is constantly evolving, and Fifth Freedom will continue to update it with more services. There’s also an option to add a service if one is missing from the website.