Wheelies Club

Yestersday, Pathfinder Linden, Polgara Plaine and Simon Walsh was interviewed on KPFK’s access unlimited programme.

This is the link:
http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/mp3/kpfk_080729_150223au.mp3

On 24^th July 2008, Wheelies, the world’s first virtual disability themed nightclub, was awarded the Revolutionary Award at the first UK Catalyst Award for social technology and action at the Imagination Gallery, London. The awards were organised by the Make your Mark Campaign and sponsored by Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, with direct support from Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who attended the awards.

Wheelies is based in Secondlife and was founded in 2006 by Simon Stevens, an independent disability consultant and training who has cerebral palsy. The club holds events from live DJs and artists everyday and offers disabled people a place to hang out and have fun, as well as providing informal peer support. Since opening Wheelies has supported over 5000 disabled and non-disabled people from over 30 countries worldwide.

“I started Wheelies as a bit of fun but it developed into support very important to people across the world. this award is a wonderful recognition of how new virtually based social technology can make a real change to real people” says Simon, who was very pleased when he was presented by the award by Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector.

Simon is available for interviews and can be contacted by phone on +44 (0)24 7666 4352 or +44 (0)7788413608 or email simon@simonstevens.com.

Links:

http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page16020.asp

http://www.ukcatalystawards.co.uk

http://moblog.net/view/841837/wheelies

http://www.simonstevens.com

Sunday 8-10p Namav Abramovic (Soft Rock)

Monday

6-8pm Meka Chaffe (Rock)

Tuesday

6-8pm Zak Volare (rock)

Wednesday

12-2pm Draxx Vanbeeck (rock)
6-8pm Dj Zyphor Voom (pending)

Thursday

12-2- Danae Koenkamp
8-10pm Namav Abramovic

Friday

4-6pm DJ Natallya Ares
6-8Pm Wheelies Members Story Time

Saturday

12-2 Dj Josey Trautman   

Wheelies, the first disability-themed nightclub in Second Life has grown from a single room with a jukebox to a large club with daily dances with DJs playing a wide variety of music. Our DJs do not all come from the United States. We have DJs from Holland and Italy as well. So some of our dances are at times that are more convenient for European members while some of them are more convenient for American members. We also have dances for everyone, including two dances especially scripted by Enric Darkstone for people in wheelchairs.

 The club is encircled with a boardwalk (perfect for wheelchair races) in the middle of the water. That water is part of a region dedicated to becoming completely accessible. Right now it is not accessible to people who are blind, but we are working to make it accessible to them also.

At Wheelies, we don’t think of ourselves as disabled, but as differently abled. We can do everything any one else can do, we may just do it differently. As a result, in Wheelies and in Taupo Region, where Wheelies is located, you will find formal escorts around to assist in escorting someone with low vision around the region. You will find friendly people who can help you get acquainted with the basics of Second Life or, if necessary, we have some wonderful volunteers to can help you learn what you want to learn.

You will find no stairs, but there are lots of ramps, a few elevators, and when absolutely necessary, a teleporter. There are several one-room apartments connected with a common room. The rent (L$50-100 a week) goes to keeping Wheelies running, For community members, there is a workshop that can be used for building activities, sometimes one-on-one lessons, and occasionally small group lessons.

Open to everyone who visits the Taupo region where Wheelies is housed is access to the water for sitting or swimming—there is a swim hub and we are making the spiral slide wheelchair accessible. There is also a central plaza with a large sized chessboard and several games and activities to keep you busy. Around the region you will find spots to sit and chat, and at the top of the hill you will find the hot tub pool house, accessible to those in wheelchairs.

At this time we have one retail shop that specializes in wheelchairs, and several shops ready to be rented that are of various sizes. The rent for the shops goes to Wheelies. We also have a yardsale that we have just opened and the contents of it should change on a regular basis, so you should visit often. Proceeds from the yardsale also go to Wheelies. Any items for the garage sale must be able to be transferred and should be sent to BettieJo Blackburn, the Wheelies Financial Officer.

You may wonder why Wheelies needs money. While we are not a recognized non-profit organization yet, we do operate as a non-profit. None of the officers gets paid, but we do pay a manager and the DJs.  Wheelies does not pay rent or tier fees, those are paid by the owners of the region.  But trying to have something happening on a regular basis for both our European and American members is costly and we can use every penny we get. So feel free to donate items for the yardsale to BettieJo or even better, donate some plain old Lindens toward keeping Wheelies the number one hot spot for accessibility in Second Life.

Have a look at our new official video;

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xl302e5wxg 

You are now able to make a donation to the club via paypal using the link shown on the right.

Monday:
        DJ Ariel Otafuku  12-4Pm
         DJ Natallya Ares: 4-6Pm                                            
   
Tuesday:                   
    DJ Cataplexia Numbers: 2-5pm
    DJ Paul Richards : 5-7Pm                                                   
   
Wednesday:
   DJ Cataplexia Numbers 11-3Pm
     
Thursday:
    DJ Paul Richard 7-9am
    Dj Arizz Janus 10-12Pm
    Therapy Thursday with Danton Thirroul: 12-2Pm
    DJ Ariel Otafuku 5-6:30Pm
  
Friday:
    DJ Agent Strangelove 1-4pm
                                    
   
Saturday:
    DJ Arizz Janus 8-12am
    DJ Cataplexia Numbers  3-6Pm
     
Sunday:
     DJ Hy Gynoid  3-5Pm                              
     DJ Paul Richard  5-7Pm
     
    
2008 Major Events Calendar: Specific Dates and times TBA

     Valentines Party/Fund raiser
     Simon’s RL Birthday- Apr 20
     Wheelies Birthday- May 18th
     Independance Day
     Summer Party (sometime in august)
     Wheelies 1st Birthday (the original)  Sept
     Halloween
     November Bonfire Night
     Christmas
     New Years Eve

MadWorld Gallery  Opening Soon on Second Ability SIM - MadWorld Gallery would like to present to you a showcase of Art from Second Life.The purpose of the Gallery is to give you an overview of different aspects of art in Second Life, covering as wide range of media and subjects as possible, and aiming make an interesting and inspirational space no matter what your knowledge or experience of art is. Our opening show includes SL Sculpture, RL Paintings, A showcase of Theatre and Film in SL and an information point for contacts and links.MadWorld aims to show how art is and can be a part of everybody’s life, I am always interested to chat or see new work, please feel free to get in touch with me - Jazz Ray.

I am very happy to confirm the new slogan for Wheelies in 2008 will be ‘Where hurts are healed and new life begins’ after a competition over Christmas. This slogan accurately represents the true nature and purpose of Wheelies for the coming year.