|
CounterPunch
October
11, 2002
Whirlwind Wheelchair
International
by RALPH NADER
Corporate scandals, the threat of war in the Middle
East and a sagging stock market are squeezing the flow of funds
from foundations and other charitable donors across the nation.
As a result, many worthwhile non-profit enterprises that depend
on the generosity of these donors for survival are facing perilous
times.
One of these organizations is Whirlwind
Wheelchair International, a true jewel among the non-profits
which is giving new hope and mobility to millions of disabled
persons in the Third World.
Whirlwind is the brainchild of Ralf Hotchkiss,
a MacArthur Genius Award winner. Working out of the WWI Center
at San Francisco State University, Hotchkiss has traveled around
the world setting up workshops and training workers to make
low-cost durable wheelchairs out of locally-available materials.
Hotchkiss, himself rendered a paraplegic
in a motorcycle accident in high school, recognized that providing
U. S. manufactured wheel chairs was impractical and unworkable
for third world countries. First, the wheelchairs were too
expensive, most costing $1,000 to $2,000. Secondly, the standard
wheelchairs were built for paved sidewalks and ramps, not the
rough rocky and steep paths of third world countries. Thirdly,
parts for the wheelchairs were unavailable or prohibitively
expensive making repairs virtually impossible.
In his travels, Hotchkiss is constantly
designing and redesigning to meet special needs in the developing
countries. He has come up with new specifications for wheelchairs
that can provide mobility in mountainous regions. He has designed
special wheelchairs for women and a separate configurations
for children. And most importantly, he searches out available
local materials that are affordable and easily adapted to wheelchairs.
Currently, Hotchkiss is completing the
design and testing of an off-road chair designed for ultra-rugged
terrain. It meets all the standard indoor and outdoor criteria,
but it can travel on slopes twice as steep as those deemed safe
for a standard chair. A unique X-brace feature allows height/width
flexibility so that the chair can "grow" as its owner
grows from child to adult.
Hotchkiss explains the importance of
using local components this way: "...it's much much better
to start with wheelchairs built in the country made out of bicycle
parts that are available locally, tubing that's available locally,
canvass, and then whenever anything breaks you don't have to
send it to the factory for spare parts, you just go to the
local blacksmith and while you wait they can make any part."
Workshops with citizens trained by Hotchkiss
are operating in two dozen developing countries including Zimbabwe,
Sri Lanka, Uganda, Vietnam, Cambodia, Palestine, Guatemala,
Honduras, among others. And Whirlwind Wheelchair is continuing
to reach out-and to liberate-the disabled in remote parts of
the world.
The need for wheelchairs-affordable,
durable and easily repaired wheelchairs-is staggering, particularly
in countries ravaged by polio and preventable amputations.
Whirlwind Wheelchair International estimates that twenty million
people in developing countries need wheelchairs. Yet, only one
percent own or have access to such transport.
In many of the countries which lack adequate
supplies of workable wheelchairs, the disabled must be dragged,
carried or left behind.
Whirlwind Wheelchair International at
San Francisco State College has proven its worth. It has what
is perhaps the world's most creative and imaginative designer
and technical director of wheelchair technology in Ralf Hotchkiss.
And WWI is fulfilling a clear and demonstrated need to provide
mobility for the disabled-a necessity for a full and productive
life for our fellow citizens around the world.
Yet this great success story may have
a sad final chapter unless funding can be maintained. Not only
does the Whirlwind Wheelchair face a fall off of contributions
from foundations and other donors as the stock market drops
and economic uncertainties mount, but its home base of San
Francisco State University has been hit by cuts in the California
state funding of education. That means funding cuts for Whirlwind
Wheelchair International as well.
Despite the concern about the stock market
and other economic uncertainties, it is inconceivable that this
rich nation would let such a wonderful and successful project
as "liberation for the disabled" wither for the lack
of funds.
If you want to make a charitable contribution
or want more information on Whirlwind Wheelchair International
write them at 2600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, California
94132. The web address is <http://whirlwind.sfsu.edu>
Today's
Features
Jason Leopold
The New
York Times, Salon, Enron and Me
Jennifer Loewenstein
Khan
Yunis:
Before the Juggernaut
Ben Tripp
Let Wag
the Dogs of War or No Peace at Any Price
Will Youmans
Israel's
Plans to "Transfer" Palestinians During Iraq War
Linda S. Heard
Israel's
Image Problem:
Fire Up the Propaganda Mill
Lawrence McGuire
Eight
Ways to Smear Chomsky
Baruch Kimmerling
Why
is the US Scaring Me?
Alexander Cockburn
Dwarf-Throwing
& the UN:
Shape of Things to Come
Tom Walker
The Work
Ethic and Its Discontents
New
Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- How to Change the Subject: Corporate Scandal and Pension
Reform as Weapons Against Warmongering;
- Padilla's Predecessor: Court Ruling Cites 1904 War
Against Mining Union;
- Adios Hitchens: the Dorian Gray of Our Time;
- Object of Suspicion: How the FBI Watched Janis Ian
From Birth;
- First Carter, Then Clinton,
Now Sen. John Edwards:
Another "New South" Slimeball;
- Corporate Crooks: Nature or Nurture?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
October 9,
2002
Hesham Hassaballa
Here
We Go Again:
Rev. Falwell's Slurs
Ann Pettifer
Brainwashing
in America
Anita Ramasatry
Airline Security Run Amok
Josh Frank
Iraq: It's
About Globalization
Rep. Cynthia
McKinney
Iraq:
the Double Standard
Robert Jensen
Bush's
Illogical War Speech
David Vest
Dylan in
Eugene
October 4,
2002
Ahmad Faruqui
The Anvil
of War and the Ailing American Economy
Norman Madarasz
The
Truth and Violence
of a Symbolic Act
William Hughes
Political
Show Trial for
Marwan Barghouti
Ron Jacobs
The Struggle
Against
Another Oil War
Sen. Robert
Byrd
Bush War
Plan:
Blind and Improvident
Michael Schwalbe
The
Costs of American Privilege
Ralph Nader
Holding
Politicians' Feet to the Fire on Corporate Crime
Robert Buzzanco
Pacifica
Caves in to Zionist Smear Campaign
October 3,
2002
Gary Leupp
Talking
to Your Kids About Fascism
Will Youmans
The New
Anti-Apartheid Movement: The Campaign to Divest from Israel
Deb Reich
Report from a Mad World
Todd Chretien & Sue Sandlin
"It's All About Power on the
Docks"
Kurt Nimmo
Poetry
as Treason
Amiri Baraka
Somebody
Blew Up America
Alexander
Cockburn
October Surprises
October 2,
2002
Carol Wolman,
MD
Is the
President Nuts?
Diagnosing Dubya
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Something
Rotten in Klamath
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|