Television Networks Featuring People Who Have Disabilities

Endeavor Freedom

People with a variety of disabilities make-up 20% of the population and yet disability news, stories, and events make up less than 3% of what the corporate media reports on. If you happen to be in a minority with a disability you are represented even less, and if you are poor and a minority with a disability, then truly nothing in mainstream culture reflects your/our everyday experience of life. EndeavorFreedom.tv wants to change all that.

"We want to capture and relay the everyday stories of everyday struggle by everyday people with disabilities just trying to manage the American dream here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

We want you to be the hero, the star, the story and we want you to share with us the stories that you consider news, issues which are important to you, that are rarely if ever seen on corporate news. All of us are touched at some point and in some way by a disability. Share with us how it is that a disability affects you or some one you know.

In order for us to make this project a success we are seeking the active participation of the entire disability community abroad. This will be your chance to write, shoot, direct, and edit your story and share it with us so that we can in turn share it with the world.

EndeavorFreedom.tv also represents an opportunity for people with disabilities to become involved in media vocations which we as a community have been largely locked out of up until this point. We do have paid staff positions available to website developers, radio hosts, film editors, journalist, and camera personnel.

We are also seeking creators of disability unique content and will pay accordingly. We envision expanding EndeavorFreedom.tv into the central hub for the disability community. If you are interested in being part of our project please contact me. We'll start where we can and expand into all directions as time and space allows.

We are especially interested in bilingual personnel so that we can extend our reach to all communities of minorities with disabilities. So, if you are or know of anybody that might be a good candidate for any of these positions, please invite them to submit their resume to ZenGarcia@endeavorfreedom.tv. Click this link to visit http://www.endeavorfreedom.tv.

The Abilities TV Network

Recent studies show that 50+ million Americans are living with or facing some type of disability or physical challenge. There are over 300 million Americans. This means that just about everyone in the U.S. is related to, knows someone with, or directly cares for someone facing a physical challenge. "The Abilities TV Network" will be a national TV network and global web site run by the physically challenged, for the physically challenged, our loved ones, those who care for us, and those who serve our interests. It will feature TV shows based on the experiences of people who are living with physical challenges, and will act as a resource for them and their families as well. It will also provide information for companies that hire people with disabilities. "AbilitiesTV.net" is currently under construction. It will be an interactive web site that will allow subscribers worldwide to connect with the shows' writers, directors, producers, and each other. Viewers will also be able to watch clips of the shows right from their computers. A network of this type is long overdue. Networking, appearances, affordable sponsorship and advertising opportunities will follow shortly, so please stay tuned. TV Shows Will Feature What Individuals Can Do, Not What They Can't.

Click this link to visit http://www.abilitiestv.net.

People With Disabilities Broadcasting Company

Lights, camera, action! How many actors or actresses can you recall that have disabilities?

There was Geri Jewell. She was the cousin of Blair on the "Facts of Life" sitcom in the 1980s. Geri's disability is from Cerebral Palsy and I haven't seen her on TV in years.

Chris

topher Burke, who was born with Down Syndrome, had a recurring role on "Our House" during the 1980s. A few times, he also appeared on "Touched by An Angel."

My favorite actor was another angel, the late Michael Landon. He was a champion in promoting actors with disabilities. Few people know that Matthew Laborteaux who played the role of Albert, son of Charles Ingles, on "Little House on the Prairie" series is autistic. When Landon introduced "Highway to Heaven," he also launched the acting career of James Troesh. Never before to my knowledge, had a real actor with quadriplegia using a sip and puff wheelchair been shown on TV.

Most importantly, the role Troesh played as Scotty was dignified. Scotty was a successful attorney, and married to a nondisabled woman. Landon frequently had themes in his shows about the negative attitudes the public has about people with disabilities.

When a young punk deliberately parked in an accessible reserved space, Jonathan the angel used his powers to plop the auto upside down! Oh, how I wish I had those powers to zap cars out of those coveted spots.

Landon also wrote and directed shows about Tom Sullivan, a totally blind person who climbed mountains, and had a family.

So, why doesn't the mainstream media ever focus on real live people with disabilities? Move over CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS. On the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the People With disabilities Broadcasting Corporation (PWdBC) formally unveiled its Web site creating and maintaining an electrifying new disability media presence.

This new corporation will create the first 24-hour, seven day a week, TV channel "of, by, and for persons with disabilities."

This channel will feature dramas, sports, news and other features. It will also promote and design programming that will be accessible for everyone.

The PWdBC was founded by Howard Renensland who has an adult daughter with developmental disabilities. Renesland believes that too few people with disabilities appear in television and film.

Likewise, people with disabilities are not represented in the creative behind the scenes processes of networks. This new corporation aims at true inclusion.

Somehow, I believe Michael Landon is looking down from heaven with a big grin on his face.

For further information, click this link to check out the PWDBC website: http://www.pwdbc.org.
Click this link to e-mail Howard Renensland at: howard@pwdbc.org.
Click this link to visit the PWDBC Blog Page: http://pwdbc.blogspot.com.

AT508.com Internet TV for Assistive Technology

Wouldn't it be cool if people with disabilities had our own TV network that showed programs about assistive technology and the various issues that surround being disabled?

Welcome to AT508.com, where the latest and greatest information on Assistive Technology and how it pertains to Section 508 is made available to everyone.

The goal is clear: To provide the public with a single point to find solutions to Section 508 compliance, and to showcase the companies responsible for the technological breakthroughs necessary to enable true Section 508 compliance.

John Williams is the founder of at508.com and has been a professional writer for 35 years. He has been writing about disability issues since 1978 and is a former award winning weekly columnist for Business Week Online Magazine. He also writes a weekly column for the National Organization on Disability called Closing the Gap.

In 1982, Mr. Williams coined the phrase "Assistive Technology." Since then it has become a universal word in describing products benefiting people with disabilities.

He is also the founder and former publisher of Assistive Technology News, a tabloid newspaper covering Assistive technology issues.

For 24 years, Williams has been writing on assistive technology's benefits to people with disabilities. He has written about hundreds of products used by people with disabilities. He is credited with raising the awareness of disability issues, especially the benefits of assistive technology, to a national level.

Since he started writing a column, he has interviewed President George Bush, former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, former first lady Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, Clint Eastwood, Governor Jesse Ventura, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Senator Max Cleland, Congressman Jim Langevin, Vinton Cerf (one of the founding fathers of the Internet), Country Western singer Mel Tillis, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, and other noted people in the disability arena.

Mr. Williams' column has won the Easter Seals Equality, Dignity and Integrity Award, Stuttering Foundation of America's 2000 Journalism Award, California Media Access Award. It was a contributing factor for Business Week Online receiving the New Media Excellence Award, for Easter Seals giving Business Week its leadership corporate award in 1999, for McGraw Hill Publishing Company receiving the American Foundation for the Blind's Lifetime Achievement Award for 20 years of writing about products benefiting blind people, and in November 2000 he received the Charles Van Riper Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in writing about stuttering and his leadership in this promoting opportunities for people with speech impediments.

Mr. Williams has been an environmental writer and has covered NASA, the Congress, Pentagon and the Supreme Court. He has edited two books on the environment, one on poetry and a NASA publication on A History of Sunspots.

He has had more than 2000 articles published and has written five books. His 1976 Merit Badge Book for the Boy Scouts of America on Space Exploration is the largest single selling Merit Badge book in the history of the Boy Scouts. His co-authored book with Dr. Frank G. Bowe, "Planning Effective Advocacy Programs," sold more than 35,000 copies and he wrote and designed the first national Communications Resource Handbook for United Way of America in 1976. UWA sold more than 20,000 copies to its member agencies. He is also one of the original writers of United Way/National Football Spots seen every during NFL games.

Mr. Williams is married and he and his wife have two children. He reads French, Latin and historical biographies. He graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and minors in mathematics and history. He loves camping, hiking, fishing and attending baseball games.

Click here to visit the at508.com web site.

Support for Performers with Disabilities

I.AM.PWD is a global civil rights campaign seeking equal employment opportunities for artists and professionals with disabilities throughout the entertainment and news media. Founded in 2008 by the Actors Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Tri Union Performers With Disabilities Committee, I.AM.PWD is dedicated to ending the discrimination and exclusion of performers and broadcasters with disabilities. I.AM.PWD is uniting labor, industry, community and governmental allies in the fight to combat continuing discrimination against people with disabilities.

Click this link to visit I.AM.PWD on the web at http://www.IAMPWD.org.