WBEZ | disabilities

Global Activism: His Wheels International sends bicycle parts to the disabled overseas

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:19:00 -0600

Alice Teisan, a former nurse at Rush Hospital, was an avid cyclist before she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 1992. Despite her major health setback, she channeled her passion for bicycling into helping others suffering from disabilities globally.

In 2005, she created His Wheels International out of her own home, which recycles old bicycles to send overseas.

Teisan’s book Riding on Faith: Keeping Your Balance When the Wheels Fall Off is available on Amazon in paperback and in Kindle format. She will offer the Kindle download for free until February 2 as a gift to WBEZ listeners.

Initially, she had small goals.

"My initial goal back in 2003 was to give away 100 bikes in my lifetime. In 2005 after being challenged by my mentor, then 90, I founded His Wheels International. Since then His her group has distributed 1,600 bikes and hand-pedaled trikes to people affiliated with 88 countries. We have prototyped 22 different trike prototypes. Our trikes have been assembled, fabricated and manufactured on five continents."

City urges businesses, property owners to shovel sidewalks

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:01:00 -0600

If you own a business or property in Chicago, the city has a message for you: grab a shovel.

Now that more streets are passable, people are turning their attention to sidewalks. The city of Chicago requires that property and business owners clear their own sidewalks. Brian Steele is a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

"It is of course required by city ordinance but more importantly, it’s about being a good neighbor," Steele says.

He says the city can issue tickets but rarely does. Instead, he says inspectors check up on 311 calls about unshoveled sidewalks to encourage compliance.

That’s especially important to people with disabilities. Marca Bristo heads the disability rights group Access Living.

"The sidewalks are our streets in many respects," Bristo says.

She says lots of people they work with are staying close to home.

Bristo says the city needs to do a better job making sure sidewalk ramps get shoveled so people in wheelchairs can get back to work and back to their regular lives.

Mayoral hopefuls face off at activist forum

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:48:00 -0600

Chicago mayoral candidates are facing each other in three forums this week. But former White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel isn’t participating in any of them.

At a community activist forum Tuesday night, several of Emanuel’s competitors slammed him as they pointed to an empty seat with his name on it.

City Clerk Miguel del Valle accused Emanuel of stalling efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. “The individual who was supposed to sit in this chair is the individual most responsible for blocking immigration reform in the United States as a congressman [and] as the chief of staff to the president,” del Valle said. “How are we to expect him to protect the rights of immigrants in this city? It won’t happen.”

The only other candidate hit with criticism was lobbyist Gery Chico. Former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun answered a question about Chicago school closings by pointing to Chico’s years as school board president. “Quite frankly, Mr. Chico, you need to be responsible for some of the things that went on with the Chicago public schools,” she said. “We can do better. Our future depends on it.”

Chico responded. “In 1995, the Illinois General Assembly said our schools were in crisis, long before I got there. And by the time I left in 2001, we were on the upswing,” he said. “I didn’t close schools. We built them.”

About 2,000 people attended the forum, sponsored by New Chicago 2011, a coalition of more than two-dozen groups. It took place at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Besides education, topics included violence prevention, human rights, jobs and housing.

To hear the entire 74-minute forum, select “Listen to this Story” (above). Note that forum organizers turned off the microphone whenever a candidate exceeded a time limit.