Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder of Joni and Friends International Disability Center, a nonprofit ministry with a global outreach. A diving accident in 1967 left Joni, then 17, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. Since then, Joni's wisdom has been shared with the world through bestselling books, radio, television and speaking. She has served on the National Council on Disability and the Disability Advisory Committee to the U. S. State Department.