DALE Reardon is no stranger to adversity.

Having lost his sight at age 17, he went on to successfully complete a law degree at the University of Tasmania during the 1980s.

He was only the second blind student to attend the university.

Now he is hopeful that perseverance will pay off with his latest venture.

Dale started his own startup, called My Disability Matters, in November last year.

The startup is designed to provide a safe and positive space for people with disabilities to share information.

"Out on Facebook and Twitter, people with disabilities can suffer a lot of harassment and trolling," he said.

Loneliness is also a common problem (due to limited transport options and access to social events) and his website is designed to provide social connections.

So far he has had a positive response from the disability community with his social network club attracting over 2200 members.

His goal is to eventually create a business which can employ people with disabilities - but he is having trouble securing funding to make this vision a reality.

"The moment you mention disability, (people) think charity, not for profit ... but while we genuinely want to provide those services, we want to make (the organisation) self-sustaining and profitable as well," he said.

Dale believes My Disability Matters has fallen into a funding gap:

"We are caught between what's become very trendy, (that is) social enterprises... providing an online community is not quite sexy enough for those investors.

"The standard technology investors don't see the profit potential once they know they're dealing with the disability sector."

He believes his lack of success so far in securing funding is because people hold the belief that disabled people have no money, so there's no point in advertising to them.

"But all disabled people have a mother, a father, a sister, a brother," he said.

"We are building a targeted, niche community which would reach all the people that (advertisers are) after."

Dale has been visiting Queensland over the past few weeks to secure funding for the startup.

He has met with Disability Services Minister Coralee O'Rourke and Small Business Minister Leeanne Enoch, but said they did not express an intention to support his business idea.

To talk with Dale about business sponsorship or investment, contact him at https://mydisabilitymatters.com

The My Disability Matters Club is the social network for the disability community, including people with disability, friends, family members, carers and businesses operating in the sector. Join by visiting　https://mydisabilitymatters.club.