Featured Resident

My name is Carl Haislip, I'm a resident here at Bell House, and I'm the webmaster for our website. I access my computer with a head stick and lay on the floor, because it's comfortable for me. Also, I have better control of my spasticity and can type much faster than if I were typing in my wheelchair.

I started building websites in 1998. I taught myself HTML, a programming language used to present content on the web, and became fascinated with how the web worked. The first website I built was the "unofficial" Virtual Buddies page. Virtual Buddies is a non-profit that allows North Carolinians with disabilities to communicate via e-mail. After funding for the program ran out, members of the discussion group formed a leadership team. I became Co-Administrator and webmaster. Since I moved to Bell House, I've only been able to work with the Virtual Buddies whenever I can, but I do keep in touch with the friends I've made through the VB program.

Putting together the website allowed me to try new designing techniques that I'd never done. Now, I use software that gives me an instant view of a page that I'm working on. I still use HTML to set colors for backgrounds in tables, but it would have taken me ages to design this website if I wrote it all out HTML. Because this website was going to represent Bell House, I challenged myself with the design. So I'm glad it worked out.

If you have any questions about our website, you can e-mail me at carl@bellhouseinc.org.

Click here to view Carl's work on the original Bell House website.