The DayBeacon story, like many others, has several starting points. It could have been when my youngest was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos, or the first day of many different therapies to support my son, or even when I was diagnosed with the same condition.
Over the years, we have been lucky to have educators who have been willing to learn about my son's unique conditions and collaborated with us to help him navigate his school days. Together we have gone through several methods to help him communicate during the day and learn to advocate for himself.
He has had pain charts, teachers checking in, numerous conferences and he has even given presentations to his classmates and teachers about his diagnosis. While all of these have been helpful, proactive education doesn’t change his level of fatigue or mental and physical health challenges he experiences to simply get through each day.
For him, school days are often considerable and overwhelming battles.
We have had many complications and hurdles along the way, but we also fully realize that we are certainly not the only family dealing with this type of situation. And even though his teachers have been incredibly supportive and kind, the reality is they simply have a large number of students. It isn’t easy to check in with every student or track unique needs across classrooms.
This understanding led us to develop The DayBeacon with the intent to help every child who suffers from an invisible condition.
There are over 7 million students with disabilities in the US and 80% of these students spend their day in a standard classroom. Many of these disabilties are invisible, with 33% considered learning disabilities, but there are many, many more unique and challenging conditions including:
● Ehlers-Danlos
● Dyspraxia
● Crohn's Disease
● ADHD
● Autism
● Dyslexia
● Depression and other mental health conditions
● OCD
● POTS
● Diabetes
● Auditory Processing Disorders
● Traumatic Brain Injury
● Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
● Selective Mutism
The pandemic has only increased issues with mental health. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, released an advisory statement on December 7, 2021, to highlight the urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis.
“Even before the pandemic, an alarming number of young people struggled with feelings of helplessness, depression, and thoughts of suicide—and rates have increased over the past decade,” said Murthy. “The COVID-19 pandemic further altered their experiences at home, school, and in the community, and the effect on their mental health has been devastating.”
So how do we start to help all these student? We give them a voice with
The DayBeacon.The DayBeacon is a project using wearable assistive technology helping students with invisible conditions learn to navigate, communicate, and advocate for themselves when they need support. Through the simple touch of a button on
The DayBeacon, any student can alert their teacher and/or parent/guardian that they are experiencing an issue and need assistance.
The Day Beacon will immediately alert the set contact (i.e., teacher, guardian, parent, etc.) allowing the student and teacher to work together immediately to resolve concerns.
The DayBeacon paired with current and upcoming government programs to aid teachers such as
Mental Health Primers, (information for teachers to identify behaviors in the classroom that are symptomatic of mental health and other psychological issues, with the goal of directing teachers to appropriate resources for their students) will allow all students to get the support they need right when they need it.
The DayBeacon also collects pertinent data to help guardians and educators collaborate to effectively support individual students' needs. This allows for better long-term support and personalization for each student.
Learning to advocate for yourself is a lengthy process and can be even more challenging when you have a rare, chronic or invisible condition.
Why Support The DayBeacon?
There are many reasons why those of us with invisible illnesses may not feel comfortable with self-advocacy including:
● Worrying about people believing you
● Apprehensive about drawing attention to yourself
● Feeling like you are always asking for help
● The perception of complaining
● Not knowing when or how to ask for help
● Uncertain about how you feel today versus tomorrow
With The DayBeacon, anyone suffering in silence will have the opportunity to get their voice heard, address their needs, and get the support they need in real-time.
Our Goals
The DayBeacon development is currently being funded solely through bootstrapping. Unfortunately, relying on this source of funding alone is taking an extreme amount of time to raise the total amount needed.
Therefore, to finish the development and subsequent marketing of The DayBeacon to teachers, parents, and students, and help with invisible conditions in the classroom, we are seeking outside support.
100% of all funding will go directly towards the following expenditures:
● Completion of app development
● Pilot Program in select classrooms to ensure all needs of students and teachers are being met
● Attending teacher conferences to create awareness for The DayBeacon in the classroom to support student needs
● Marketing to schools, teachers, parents, guardians, etc.
● Purchasing wearables and other hardware for classroom use