AC Connect:
Where Unity Happens
By Jerrica Thurman, Vice President, Strategy & Communications
In this new year, the Amputee Coalition will implement new ways to create a stronger, united community as we strive to reach the 2.7 million people living with limb loss or limb difference in America. The Amputee Coalition will soon release its new online community, AC Connect, where you can join at no cost and experience continuous, meaningful interaction with your peers and organization.
AC Connect is a professional network designed to bring people together around a centralized, shared, organization-based experience for expansive online collaboration and growth. It is a dedicated online space where the limb loss and limb difference community can connect with each other year round. Like a Facebook or LinkedIn group, AC Connect offers a robust platform for ongoing discussions about the latest issues impacting people living with limb loss or limb difference, sharing stories and resources, accessing a community directory, participating in virtual learning sessions, and connecting with special interest groups.
With the AC Connect online community, you can:
- Create real connections
- Engage with other community members, including medical professionals and AC staff
- Increase your learning and collaboration
- Provide feedback on critical issues impacting the limb loss and limb difference community
- Share resources
- Increase your volunteer engagement
- Elevate your voice to advocate for our community
- Grow your network and social interactions
One of the Amputee Coalition’s key tenets is no amputee alone. To this end, we are committed to building community connections that are long-lasting. AC Connect places you at the heart of our community and provides a space to create and share value all in one, easily accessible destination available via your mobile device or laptop.
By breaking down the traditional one-way exchange of information and opening our communication through AC Connect, the Amputee Coalition invites you to share your unique perspectives, expertise, and knowledge with the goal to inspire engagement and connections that are relevant and meaningful. AC Connect provides a variety of group types in the online community for several ways to engage.
| Community | Definition |
| User Groups | Connect community members to share strategies and best practices around a given product or service. User groups connect people from different walks of life who all use the Amputee Coalition’s products or services in different ways to unlock new skills, address support issues, and problem-solve or troubleshoot. |
| Communities of Practice | Unite likeminded people with common problems to solve. These drive adoption and encourage conversation. These can be further broken down into special interest groups, which would address niche groups looking to find one another, from below-the-knee amputees to caregivers to prosthetists in a specific vertical. |
| Learning and Networking | Dedicated to the study of a specific topic, whether that’s connecting a cohort of learners in an official program, giving event attendees a virtual way to meet, or offering knowledge on a specific topic. |
| Advisory Boards or Customer Councils | Bring together hand-picked community members who are interested in giving the Amputee Coalition feedback about its products and services. They may share their perspective as a software user or share thoughts on the direction to take the company. |
| Task-Focused Communities | Include organizational communities (similar idea to user groups), board communities (private area for the Amputee Coalition’s board of directors to connect and discuss things instead of having to send emails), or committee communities (where committees meet to discuss and accomplish tasks). |
| Support Communities | Connect community members to each other to get peer-to-peer technical and strategic support, whether that’s about the Amputee Coalition’s products, services, or systems. |
| Event Communities | Engage attendees (and experts and AC staff) of an event, whether virtual or in person, to meet and network before, during, and after. |
Are you a regional ambassador, peer visitor, lead advocate, ambassador champion, youth amputee, a Science and Medical Advisory Committee member, a member of the board of directors, a support group leader, or any other type of Amputee Coalition volunteer? If so, AC Connect is the new online space where you want to be to stay connected with your groups and receive the latest news and updates. AC Connect is our new central location for all volunteer engagement, along with mentoring opportunities and virtual learning events.
AC Connect is all about you. This new online community will thrive because of the people who are a part of it. It is your place to continuously learn, develop a sense of belonging, and gain exposure.