Trying to Help


	Ed Arnold walks in front of his Boulder, Colorado home carrying his 12-year-old daughter, Johanna. (Photograph by Paul Chesley)

oes the Internet have a heart? Ed Arnold, a 49-year-old programmer for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, hopes so.

Ed, who is the father of a 12-year-old daughter with quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy, has long been an advocate for people with disabilities. In October 1994, he met -- over the Internet -- Aul Pedajas, a 32-year-old Estonian who suffers from a degenerative disease of the motor nervous system. Ed decided to take up Aul's cause and posted a Web page dedicated to helping Aul emigrate to United States, where he could receive better medical care.

"Rather than use the Net to display technological prowess or market cars," Ed wondered, "would it be possible to use it for higher reasons?"

So far, says Ed, the response to Aul's Web page has him feeling rather glum. "I get maybe one email message a week from people who see the page," he says. "In fact, we've been sliding backward a bit lately."


	Aul Pedajas works at his computer in his apartment in Tallin, Estonia. Pedajas suffers from a degenerative disease of the nervous system. (Photograph by Joey Abraityte)


	Ed Arnold spends a moment with his daughter Johanna, who suffers from ahtetoid cerebral palsy. (Photograph by Paul Chesley)


	Ed and Johanna Arnold (center) spend time with Johanna's neighborhood friends. (Photograph by Paul Chesley)

http://www.csn.net/~era