Adam,
I am pleased to see this discussion occur. It is important that we look at expanding our outreach to any and all populations within society. I believe a collaboration may be in order, some sort of partnership maybe an LLC that allows the development of bikes for children that take into account their physical and geographical limitations.
It is my belief that the Obama budget will have an increase for the Small Business Administration and there are now monies/funds for businesses to be developed for and by non-traditional populations (non-traditional populations my wording, not the governments). The Veterans Administration budget proposal includes funding for businesses, including non-profits that are developed for or by veterans or their family members under its small business development section. We should have an idea within sixty days of what funds will be available for business start ups from government sources.
We should consider putting these ideas into some sort of proposal and shop it around for funding from private and public sources. Their appears to be a consensus forming in the business community for an upgrade to the funding sources for business start ups if we are to overcome the current financial situation.
Thanks for the information, we should discuss this further.
Thomas Cannady Executive Director Engaged Community Offshoots, Inc.
On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 9:15 AM, adam schwartz rideyourbicycle@gmail.comwrote:
Great thread. We have served a few young people with disabilities in the past, I remember one in particular with Cerebral Palsy, in which we had to modify the bike with a special handlebar and brakes, it was great to see the kid on a bike with everyone else at the end of the program. Currently we are writing a grant to put bikes in the hands of people with HIV, the Wash DC area has one the the highest rates in the country. This population is often home bound, without transportation and in need of daily exercise.
-- Adam Schwartz Program Coordinator, Renaissance Youth Bike Shop The Engaged University 6200 Sheridan Street, Riverdale, MD adamgs@umd.edu (301) 405-3213
On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 5:25 AM, Jason Moore moorepants@gmail.com wrote:
Check out the Lose the Training Wheelshttp://www.losethetrainingwheels.org/program. They are experts at this type of thing.
Also an interesting new product is coming out soon: The Gyrobikehttp://www.thegyrobike.com/
My recommended method for teaching people to ride bicycles is this:
- Remove the pedals of the bike and lower the seat such that the rider's
feet can easily touch the ground, this way the rider can scoot around and get the feeling of the bicycle's dynamics. If you use training wheels or support the rider with your hand it doesn't allow the person to feel how the bicycle actually handles. 2. Once the rider is comfortable on the scooter, add the pedals so they can try self propulsion.
People learn very fast with this method.
Jason Moore http://mae.ucdavis.edu/~biosport/jkm/http://mae.ucdavis.edu/%7Ebiosport/jkm/ moorebicycles http://moorebicycles.blogspot.com/ Bicycle Dynamics Lab http://www.bicycle.tudelft.nl/, TU Delft Sports Biomechanics Lab http://mae.ucdavis.edu/%7Ebiosport, UC Davis Bike Church http://daviswiki.org/Bike_Church Minister, Davis, CA Netherlands office phone # : +31 15 278 6932
On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:16 PM, josh brown josh@communitycycles.orgwrote:
Howdy all.
I'm wondering how/if any of you have worked with populations or individuals with disabilities who come into your shops or who approach your organization for help. We've had this type of thing happen before, where someone who has experienced head trauma, or has severe balance issues is looking for an adult tricycle, but we never seem to have any quality ones in the shop when they're needed, and inexpensive but decent ones are in the 6-8 hundred dollar range.
I received the below email this morning, and while i welcome the challenge and experience of getting a 10 year old with CP and Autism on a bicycle, i'm a little overwhelmed at the prospect.
What kinds of experiences have you all had? I know Boulder and Colorado both have some excellent non-profits that deal with folks with disabilities, and I'll start making phone calls to them, to see what types of things to be aware of. I'm interested in your experiences as community bike shop staff.
If anyone reading this has some type of circumstance which requires some sort of modification to their own bike to accommodate balance, reflex, or a body that's different than most of us have (ie, amputee, etc) issues, PLEASE get in touch. I'm interested both in your experiences personally as well as resources you've found to be helpful or not so helpful.
I've personally worked with folks with all kinds of issues, just not in my work with bicycles...looking forward to bringing those two worlds together...
thanks!
josh. community cycles.
Hello,
We have been looking into your program for our son but I have a couple of questions.
Our son has Cerebral Palsy and Autism, both are mild, however he has difficulty in riding a two wheel bike as he has balance problems. He is 10 yrs old, (11 in June) and has out grown bikes that we can place "training wheels" on. We know that there are stabilization wheels but not sure how to go about working with them on multiple speed bikes.
Do you work with children with disabilities? and Would you be able to help us in getting a bicycle that would meet his needs?
He would dearly love to be able to ride a bike and we are most happy to work with him and get him the proper set up. Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. You are welcome to call us at our home phone or email. Your program sounds very exciting and we look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you, Sue and Paul
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