About me: ASCOT-World
Amputee Support Coalition of the World
A support group and social club for amputees or anyone with a disability and their admirers and friends.
I am an amputee female and, aged 57 and founder and director of an organization called ASCOT-World (Amputee Support Coalition of the World). I am from Houston, Texas, originally but I got married and moved to CT in August 2005.
ASCOT-World is a support group and social club for amputees, those with other disabilities, and their admirers. Admirers are men and women who find amputees attractive and many are also attracted to women who are SCI or Polio survivors, or who use wheelchairs or braces,or have any other type of disability. It is not just the presence of a stump or a wheelchair or leg-braces they are interested in...it is our strength and the way we adapt and overcome hurdles in our lives, who we are because of what we have survived.
Most admirers have known of their attraction since they were very young and many of them have been ashamed of it for many years as well. I like to characterize the attraction as very much like the more socially acceptable attraction to hair color or breast size. It is an initial interest that draws the couple together but as with any relationship, there must be more in common between the two people for a relationship to develop. As one admirer said: "My own interest is piqued by how well she copes with her disability, how well she transcends it, and in the special ways that she does things. I prefer a woman who is confident and competent, not downtrodden. Of course, like any mature individual, she knows how to accept assistance that is thoughtfully offered, and how to ask for help when she needs it. Meanwhile, she gets on with her life, moving gracefully and happily forward in her wheelchair."
I have been an amputee for 23 years. My marriage ended after I lost my leg, and after being rejected by some men because I was ‘different’, and merely tolerated by others, I was thrilled to find out there are men who not only don't mind that I am an amputee, but appreciate my differences. Since founding ASCOT I have met many admirers and for the most part they are intelligent, caring, respectable men that any woman would be proud to know. They are aware that we are women first, last and always. I have found that the expression: "We are not life support systems for a stump" expresses very well what must exist between an amputee and her admirer for a relationship to flourish.
I host two or three conferences a year for ascot members to meet and get to know one another in person. The conferences are informal, casual, social get-togethers of old friends and new. There are usually 20-35 people who attend, and I usually have fairly equal numbers of men and women. There are 15 or more couples who are now engaged or married who have met through ASCOT-World. The last conference in Las Vegas, October 2006. You can read about all the recent conferences and view photos on the Conference page. The next conference is planned for Mystic, CT in May 2007, then Galveston, TX in October 2007.
The fee for the men is $300. That money is used to pay travel and hotel expenses for the single ladies and to buy food for the whole group. Couples who attend together are charged a smaller fee of $100, since they pay all of their own expenses. That fee may be waived for couples for whom it would be a burden.
I have a web page at http://www.ascotworld.com and my e-mail is jama@ascotworld.com If you would like any more information, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or e-mail.
