Several thousand copies are downloaded annually. Monitoring of company, governmental and NPO activities, research, legislation and grant funding affecting FAS individuals. Supporting parents, families and communities FASlink, with 300 to 500 members at any one time is the ONLY online national support network with members across Canada. For many, this is the only support resource available. FASlink shares from 50 to 100 letters per day with each member.
Any member can reply to a letter by sending e-mail to the listserver.
The reply is then sent as e-mail to the entire membership list. When a crisis occurs, there is always someone online to help and answers come within minutes or hours, not days or weeks as with local support groups. With hundreds of members and the FASlink Archives, the knowledge base on FASlink is incredible. There is a strong code of civility on FASlink, along with the latitude to vent when needed, as long as it is not attacking another member. There is safety in the anonymity of FASlink for many members, allowing discussions of issues online that they would not be able to discuss in a local support group.