Founder and President, Wayne Connell, saw the need to establish,

The Invisible Disabilities Advocate as a place of compassion and understanding for those living with debilitating illness, pain and injury. His inspiration to create this organization came from his wife, Sherri, who became very ill at the age of 27.

All of her life, Sherri Connell was an extremely active person who loved her careers, singing and dancing in musicals, modeling, riding her horse and lifting weights. She started having health problems when she was 14, but did not know why. Despite chronic headaches, constant bouts with strep throat, the flu and bronchial pneumonia, Sherri was an active, goal oriented "go getter." In college, she studied Music Theatre, then obtained 2 Bachelor Degrees in Business, with a Minor in Liberal Arts.

Although Sherri had enormous plans and goals, her life took an unexpected turn. Just as she was plotting out her Master's Degree, she was stopped in her tracks at the age of 27. Starting with another winter bout of pneumonia, Sherri became paralyzed and so sick she could barely sit up. She was hospitalized and diagnosed with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and it was later discovered she also had Late-Chronic Lyme Disease from a tick bite when she was 14. The diagnosis really did not scare her, because she figured she could still work and sing from a wheelchair. Nothing had ever stopped her before and nothing was going to stop her now!

Much to her dismay, her health never improved, but quickly worsened. Due to extreme flu-like symptoms such as bone-crushing fatigue, severe nerve pain, cognitive dysfunctions, memory loss, dizziness, heart arrhythmias, weakness, nausea and migraines, Sherri was never able to return to work. This was extremely difficult for her, because she had been working since she was 13 and her work was her life! She did regain some of the use of her legs through much rehabilitation, but she still cannot stand very long or walk very far. Sherri's life suddenly went from "on the go 24/7" to struggling just to get to a doctor's appointment, get a meal or take a shower.

Despite the seriousness of Sherri's illness, people often had difficulty understanding how she could "look good" to them, even though she was very sick. Unfortunately, because of these misconceptions, people often jumped to the conclusion that she was just being lazy, unmotivated or was not trying hard enough. For a goal oriented, talented, career driven person like Sherri, these notions were absolutely devastating. In fact, Sherri wanted her life back more than anyone as she continued to go from doctor to doctor, as well as try countless treatments, therapies and surgeries.

Unfortunately, Sherri remained plagued by hurtful comments and assumptions from those around her. Determined to grasp how people came to these conclusions, she began writing in her journal about her losses and the responses of others. In the article, "A Private Write," Rochelle Ratner explained, "The process of forming thoughts into words and the physical act of drawing the hand across the page, typing on a keyboard, or talking into a tape recorder slows rushing thoughts and pulls the attention into focus." Since Sherri continued to grapple with verbally explaining to people what she was going through, she began printing copies from her journal to share with others.