On July 25,2010 Joel Sheffel, the Executive Director was a part of a Disability Sunday Service at Pilgrim Congrgational Church in Oak Park. The following was the speech:

As I have not only advocated for individuals with disabilities but also become more of a person with a disability I have noted the vast improvements of services and programs for individuals with disabilities in the 20 years since the signing of the ADA. Not being one in a wheel chair I never thought that this year as I turned 66 that I would actually be using what is known as Para Transit and many other services for seniors and persons with disabilities. I never thought I would be using a cane or have problems walking. But I do know that one reason this has happened is because I have received a seal of approval from God who said “I am going to let these things happen because I will guide you and take care of you.”

Having come to Pilgrim not having any family, come Sunday morning to be greeted before services by many members and be greeted by more during the sevice means a lot to me. To have the acceptance as changes in my condition have been made. To be there and stay with me when I did have a seizure at a church meeting. To not have it be a big thing that I might have a seizure at any time, or to accept it when I say “I can’t do it .” To see Pilgrim put in the lift as well as make room for wheel chairs in the sanctuary and show that yes it is an open and affirming church means a lot as does the manner in which any member with a walker or who needs to use the lift is accepted.

This is part of Pilgrim, but I wonder if everyone realizes how very much this means to persons such as myself?

When you see a person with a disability among us please stretch our your hand and say “I am here how can I help you?” After all isn’t this what you would want to be done to you? And are we not taught to Treat your neighbor as yourself?

Can you say the same things about your religious institution? If not then take action and see that when done you can go ahead and be able to say the same things about your religious institution.

Here I was just done trying to find an apartment after leaving the nursing home, and what do I do but start up an organization that is still alive and growing as it passes its ninth birthday. Nobody including myself thought it would grow to the point where it is now. Nobody thought it would have gained the respect and have as many contacts as it does today, contacts all the way from the White House down to state and local legislators, nobody thought it would have a website that had been visited by over 197,000 persons since 2003, over 97,000 persons in just 2 years.
I might not be in a wheelchair or have horns sticking out of my head but yes I know that I am a PERSON with a disability. I am not a disabled person for I have abilities and was put on this earth the same manner you or your friend were and you are persons so why am I not a person?
Has it taken work to get this far? Yes. Have I partaken or do I now partake of services and programs for persons with disabilities? Yes. But that doesn’t shield the fact that I can run to the highest mountain and yell “Look at what I have created!” 
As we get to the 20th anniversary of the signing of the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, a law which still is not fully obeyed,persons with disabilities have come a long way but there is a much longer road ahead to be traveled and let us hope that when the ADA is 30 and WSANA is 19 that all persons with disabilities are treated with the respect that they deserve and need.
To everyone who has helped myself and WSANA along the way we have traveled thank you. To those who yet will guide me along the way thank you.

See a person in a wheel chair, don’t shake your head and say poor person instead hold out your hand and say “How can I be of help to you?”.

Joel  Sheffel
Executive Director
West Suburban Access News Association
A person with a disability

Dear Friend of Special Olympics,

I want to share an amazing story with you about the power of Special Olympics to change lives. It’s about a 21-year-old Special Olympics athlete named Jacquelyn Mason.

In elementary school, Jacquelyn was known as “slow.” But as a preteen she was finally diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

Family friend Mary Jane Welton explains, “FAS results when an expectant mom drinks alcohol during her pregnancy. It causes brain damage to the developing fetus. Jacquelyn has cognitive impairment, a very short attention span and lots of memory problems. It really impacts every part of her life.”

Mary Jane remembers when they first met: “She was 12 years old, too shy to speak and kept her eyes looking down at the ground. She could barely balance on a bike. Then she started with Special Olympics. She began to blossom.”

Her first sport was skiing and she loved it. At first, she needed extra encouragement but she practiced and practiced. Skiing was followed by golf. Then she began to make friends as her confidence started to grow.

Mary Jane says, “It’s just amazing that Special Olympics has given her this opportunity to flourish. With each success, her self-esteem and self-confidence increase. Now, she goes to school, works and competes in two sports. The change is dazzling. It’s really a caterpillar turned into a butterfly

Commonwealth Edison is offering a new program to assist low-income households with electric heating accounts that have receivced LIHEAP funds since September of 2009. The ComEdFresh Start Program is designed to provide customers with an affordable billing plan and a chance to eliminate all arrearages upon successful compleation of the program for six months. Qualifying households must be less than 100% of the poverty level and have an active, connected Electric Space Heat account with ComED.

Customers who choose to sign up for the ComEd Fresh Start Program will be placed on a budget billing plan for six months. Each month you will be responsible for making an on-time payment of $10 plus any useage over $160 for that month. For each of the six- months you are enrolled in the program you will receive a credit up to $150, not exceeding the month’s useage. For example, if your one month’s useage is $70, you will pay $10 and be credited $60. If your bill is $175, you will be credited $150 and you will be responsiblefor $10 PLUS the remaining $15 for that month’s useage $25 total. If you are late for TWO PAYMENTS in a row, or THREE TOTAL, you will be removed from the program. If you make  six  (6) on-time payments, your arrearages will be eliminated.

In order to participate in the ComEd Fresh Start Program, the customer of record on your ComEd bill must complete an application. YOU WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY BE ENROLLED IN THIS PROGRAM. You must complete an application at a participating CEDA site. For more information call 1-800-571-2332

In the 10-1-09 issue of Oak Leaves paper an article appeared concerning persons with disabilities being able to park in lots owned by the Village of Oak Park where one pays at a pay box. However derogatory language was used in the article as well as incomplete information was also given in the article.
Below is a copy of the letter WSANA sent to the reporter concerning the article. 

 WSANA

  P.O. Box 3221

 Oak Park, IL. 60302

 Call us at  708-383-6258     E-Mail:  info@wsana.org

Cell : 708-209-9733

Mr. John P. Huston

Pioneer Press

Dear Mr. Huston:

One of the missions of WSANA is to correctly and politely inform persons with disabilities of information which assists them to be a part of the community in which they live and partake of services in which the community provides for them.

I find several problems with your recent article on parking for persons with disabilities in Oak Park’s lots which one pays at a box versus a meter.

The person Ann Potts who contacted you is first of all a person or human being and then one who might happen to have a disability. Your headline if it read Persons with disabilities park free in lots, would be much more polite towards those persons who have disabilities.
Although the information Mr. Budrick did in fact cite the state law correctly it only applies when the placards mentioned do need to be displayed on the rear view mirror so a policeman can see the placard. The law also applies to persons with disabilities who might happen to have Illinois license plate with the universal wheelchair symbol on them as well.

Also under now both State and Federal laws any municipality with 50 or more employees is required to have a person designated as their ADA Coordinator. This person under Illinois Public Act 96-0650 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as the ADAAA is the person who should be contacted for information on any village service or property concerning persons with disabilities.

Oak Park’s ADA Coordinator is Mr. Steve Wytt.

Sincerely

Joel H. Sheffel

Executive Director

West Suburban Access News Association

The following article is forwarded to you by the DBTAC-Great Lakes ADA Center (www.adagreatlakes.org) for your information:

 Chicago Sun Times (Chicago, IL)

September 21, 2009

 New 911 service across state aims to protect the disabled

By Christopher Wills

 SPRINGFIELD — When 6-year-old Rhiannon Schmakel wandered away from home, her mother was terrified almost to the point of being sick. The girl suffers from autism, can’t talk and is easily frightened by strangers and loud noises.

 But Rochelle Feller-Schmakel took some comfort from the fact that Itasca police already knew about her daughter’s autism — including the best way to approach without scaring her — through a department program that allows families to share information on medical problems and disabilities.

 Once the alert went out, every officer would have all the details available on a computer screen. Instead of interviewing a panicky mother, they could get to work looking for Rhiannon, who was soon found playing on a nearby railroad track.

 Now similar services are being set up throughout Illinois under a new “premise alert program” that allows families to contact their local police or fire department and submit information about someone who may need special attention in an emergency: a child with autism, a parent with Alzheimer’s, a teenager who can’t hear.

 “I think it’s fantastic,” said Feller-Schmakel. “In my opinion, it makes those first responders that much faster.”

 The program, signed into law Aug. 28, says that if a 911 call center has the proper technology, it must accept information on people with disabilities and share that information with police, fire- fighters and paramedics in an emergency.

 That way, police will know they might encounter a deaf man who won’t hear their sirens and commands. Firefighters will know if a burning home is likely to contain someone who can’t get out.

 Itasca Deputy Police Chief Dean Myles, who serves on the board of the Autism Society of Illinois, said the service could help prevent potentially fatal encounters between police and disabled people, such as the one in 2005 that killed Hansel Cunningham of Des Plaines.

 After police responded to a call that he had attacked a caregiver at the home where he was living, Cunningham, 30, ran from police, who wound up using pepper spray and a Taser, tackling Cunningham and handcuffing him. He suffocated to death while being held face-down on the ground.

 Myles said police should have known more about autism and what they might encounter during the call.

 “Would they possibly have handled it differently? Absolutely, I think they would have,” he said.

 In April, Chicago Police tried to question 16-year-old Oscar Guzman while he was standing outside his family’s restaurant. Relatives said Guzman, who has autism, wouldn’t answer questions and eventually walked away from the police.

 The officers followed, prompting Guzman to run into the restaurant, yelling, “I’m a special boy!” as he fled. Relatives said one of the officers hit Guzman with a baton, causing a serious gash.

 The service won’t be available everywhere because a computer-aided dispatch system is required to call up the information and send it to emergency personnel.

 State officials don’t know exactly how many 911 centers have these systems, but they’re usually available in areas with what’s known as “enhanced” 911 service. As of October 2008, 85 of Illinois’ 102 counties had enhanced 911 service, but just a few local agencies have offered the alert program. AP

 Source:  http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1781265,CST-NWS-disabled21.article