Hi all,

Let me make a segway between two messages here, as partnering up with organizations strengthens you and allows you to become more involved with local actors and promote bicycles as a solution to many common problems.

Organizations involved with youth, in employability, skills training, schools, crime-prevention programs, youth drop-in centers, environmental orgs... all have a potential need for the services you provide.

We ran socio-insertion programs with a youth employment ressource center for the last five years. We are nos independent but are busy setting up partnerships in the neighborhood where we'll be opening up.

While doing youth insertion programs, we got approached by a school for autistic children to see if we could help them fix up their bikes. This turned into a few years partnership where our employment lacking youth went to teach autistic kids bicycle mechanics. The results were fantastic for our youth: I never saw them be so patient, comprehensive, gentle and giving. I'm not sure that the autistic kids became very good mechanics but they definitely got to try things that they otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to and they definitely had a lot of fun while there.

So Josh, the school in question is called Reach, they haven't got a website but the contact info is here:

http://www.rsb.qc.ca/rsbmain.aspx

The have a fleet of bicycles so that the kids at the school can try to learn to ride. And they have some success. We just helped them help themsleves fixing up their bikes.

Good luck all, remember that you are doing much much more than just helping people fix bikes.

richard from Vélogik

2009/3/2, josh brown josh@communitycycles.org:

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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