Travel Programs at [with]tv

Written by: Dr. Scott Rains

Welcome to Travel Programs at [with]tv

Travel transforms.

The anticipation of adventure and discovery can make a simple change of place into a memory that lasts a lifetime. Good travel agents know that. As important as it is to flawlessly plan itineraries and to provide tickets they know that what they sell are dreams.

Photos, videos, postcards, and souvenirs outlive the experience. They can have an almost magical effect of reinvoking the memories and feelings of another place & time. At [with]tv we intend to produce written and visual materials that help you plan, take, and remember trips that change your life.

There is a saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t know when you arrive!”

Travel planning is key – and we will unlock some secrets of the experts. Destination previews ignite the imagination – and we will light a bonfire to get you dreaming. Reports from those who have been there make it real – and we will talk to both tourists and locals on site.

In the end, the transformation of travel may be the reinvigoration to head back home and live life more fully. It may be a new insight into the way the world works – or doesn’t. It may be an opening to a new culture or a new lifestyle.

We hope that [with]tv can be one tool for transformation that you keep coming back to!

This Week in Sports

Written By: Jamie Lazaroff
Edited By: Bob Lazzari

Hello, my name is Jamie Lazaroff and welcome to my first sports column. I'm a HUGE sports fan who happens to have a disability. I like all sports and truly have very strong opinions regarding most of them. My column will not focus solely on sports participants with disabilities; I will also offer my views about the various sports issues of the week. However, I will spotlight one disabled individual each week in this column.

Where do I even START this week? We have the NBA referee betting scandal and QB Michael Vick being indicted on federal charges regarding his role in a dog-fighting ring. We also have Barry Bonds' ongoing pursuit of the all-time home run record and whether or not Hank Aaron and/or commissioner Bud Selig should be in attendance. Finally, there is the Tour de France doping scandal on the sports page.

*The referee betting scandal is a black eye to a once-proud NBA, but this is not surprising. I can clearly see how the games can be fixed. In fact, we have had game-fixing scandals in college basketball for years; Boston College had one just a few years ago. I have attended many high school, college, and pro women's games over the years and seeing them up close gives me the impression that it can be VERY easy to fix a game. What surprises me is how long it took for this to affect the NBA, but with many younger players in the league right now (along with big money), this was bound to happen.

*The Michael Vick saga is very sad. I'm not the biggest animal lover but I do have a soft side for dogs. I think the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL did the right thing keeping Vick away from training camp. At this point, I don't think he should be allowed to play any football this season; his trial may get underway during the season and it would prove to be a major distraction to the team and the league in general.

*As far as Bonds is concerned, he has not been indicted by the grand jury yet. Whether you like him or not (I don't), Bonds should be respected for breaking one of sports most hallowed records; I think Bud Selig--not necessarily Aaron-- should be there to see him break it. In this country, you ARE innocent until proven guilty and the jury is still out on if he used steroids or not. All we have to go on at this point are two books--one written by a former teammate.

*I'm not even touching the Tour de France; it just has too many problems. I don't think cycling can be fixed. But it is a difficult sport and it's hard to believe that these athletes can cycle for days in mountains without having something foreign in their bodies. The human body is not built to take the physical punishment of two or three weeks on a bicycle.

*As I stated in the beginning, I'd like to spotlight one athlete with a disability each week. This week, the spotlight is on Oscar Pistorius--a double amputee, track and field world record-holder from South Africa. You see, he's been in the news because he has a dream: he wishes to run the 400 meters in the Olympics at Beijing next year. As a double amputee, his running prosthetics are j-shaped, carbon fiber blades. The problem here is that the world governing body believes that his curved, tapered prosthetics give him an unfair advantage over the competition. But in Oscar's first race against very able-bodied athletes, Oscar was well off the pace in wet conditions. Currently, he IS cooperating with the IAAF on future research. I believe Oscar can get better and compete with the world's best. I'm not sure if his prosthetics give him an advantage or not, but I will let you know the research findings in the fall.

That is my take, I'd like to hear yours.

Jamie Lazaroff

Arc of Connecticut Offers Support

We are pleased to announce that on Monday, July 23, the Arc of Connecticut joined our list of supporters. Visit their website at www.arcct.com to find out more about the great work that they do.

Equal Opportunities

I have been working with families who have a child with either a visual problem or other anomaly for more than 20 years. Now that the population I began working with is entering the work force, I am finding that I receive calls on a regular basis about how difficult it is to find employment. I am sure that most people know the statistic that 80% of people who are visually impaired are unemployed. It is my opinion that this statistic is based on fear on the part of employers. While they may be aware of the Americans with Disabilities Act, they find a reason not to hire or even to interview the person.

When I am asked to counsel someone who comes to me with their frustration, my first inclination is to tell the future employer only information related to their qualifications for the job. They will find out on the interview about the challenges or potential accommodations that may be needed. I completely support the efforts of the founders of PWDBC and [with]tv to establish an organized effort to educate the public to this loss of tremendous talent. Most of the individuals I have had the pleasure to spend time with throughout my career have so much to offer in ways that many of us could never understand. I join you in supporting this wonderful endeavor.

Nancy Mansfield, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Families
Counselor & Ombudsman, Retinoblastoma Center
Patient Advocate, Maternal Fetal Institute
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Assistant Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology
Keck School of Medicine
University of Southern California

Stories Ignored

A few weeks ago, the news had highlighted and then dropped some important stories that "had legs" in terms of television viewers not especially interested in disability issues and, more importantly from the perspective of our community, had even "better legs" and needed to be put in the spotlight where they could be discussed, debated, and covered with the attention deserving when considering their impact on society at large.

These were, to mention just two, the discovery of an Iraqi Orphanage where adolescent boys with "special needs" - media does not even know what to call us they are so used to excluding us from their lives, how could they know? These boys with mixed disabilities, largely cognitive and developmental, were found in the most squalid conditions possible. This should come as no shock to us in the community. TV did what it does - makes a splash - throws whatever attention on a subject that will benefit the media source and then moves on.

The other story was the "immunity deals" worked out with the two nurses in LA in the Katrina debacle - I prefer that word to disaster, because while this was an event of Nature, the murder of these men and women with disabilities and the deaths of others occurred not through the wishes of anyone's God, but rather the callousness of society, and our exclusion of people with disabilities in the human race.

[with]tv would have been on these stories from day one and would have not only advanced the cause through dialogue and discussion but would have garnered audience, industry admiration and advertising dollars all employing people with disabilities and without disabilities in the process. Think of the role models for youngsters with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, the teenagers with spinal cord injuries and veterans returning from military service with acquired physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities.

It is time for us to accept, learn and teach that disabilities mean money. That money means empowerment. It will happen when we are all make room for each other just like in a good game of "musical chairs" where as chairs are taken away the participants must accommodate each other on a shrinking space.

Howard Renensland, CEO

One More Step

Ms. Kathy Slater and Ms. Liddy Karter, both integral parts of The CT Technology Council and the Innovation Pipeline Accelerator to which we belong, have put us in contact with some key CT based law firms with an eye toward entering into an agreement with one to serve as our Corporate Legal Counsel. This will be one more brick in our own yellow brick road that is starting in CT, not KS, but will take us all "Over the Rainbow"!

National Organizations Support [with]tv

The following organizations have expressed their support for this project:

The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)
Ms. M. Doreen Croser, Exec. Director
AAIDD is the professional association run by and for professionals who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has a constituency of over 60,000 with a core of 4,500 members.

The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR)
Ms. Renee L. Pietrangelo, CEO
ANCOR is a national network of over 835 providers offering quality supports to more than 385,000 people with disabilities and their families.
http://ancor.org

The Arc of the United States (The Arc)
Ms. Sue Swenson, Executive Director
The Arc of the United States advocates for the rights and full participation of all children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
http://www.thearc.org

The Arc of Connecticut (The Arc/CT)
Dawn Lazaroff, President
Peg Dinotti, Executive Director
http://www.arcct.org

The Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center (CPAC)
Nancy Prescott, Executive Director
The Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization offering information and support to CT families of children with any disability or chronic illness, birth to 26.

The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL)
James F. Gardner, Ph.D., President and CEO
CQL plays an international leadership role in the definition, measurement, and improvement of the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and people with mental illness impacting directly on the lives of over 50,000 people.

Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)
Chester Finn, National Chairman
SABE's mission is to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as equals, that they are given the same decisions, choices, rights, responsibilities, and chances to speak up in order to empower themselves.
http://sabe.org

The Association of Self Advocates of North Carolina (ASANC)
Karen Moyes Stallings, Executive Director
ASANC is a state-wide organization advocating for the rights of people with disabilities in work, recreation and the community. They have an active membership of 1,200 members and their families.

Planet of The Blind
http://kuusisto.typepad.com/planet_of_the_blind/2007/05/

We have a growing number of families and individuals that we will be listing soon as well. Clearly it is imperative that you all sign on ASAP and enlist your places of employment and all manner of friends, families, etc. to do so as well. I urge you to take the time to do so. It is one small way in which you can do something that will help drive [with]tv toward eventual success.

Supporting Our Efforts

Today marks the appearance on the [with]tv web site and blog of our "Support Letter." While this may indeed pale in comparison to the day the Americans With Disabilities Act was enacted, it has its own importance. While someone famous once said, "all comparisons are odious," there is one striking similarity here worth noting!. The ONLY reason the ADA became the law of the land (we will not go into how it was received or how enforced) was because of the tireless and relentless energies of a large number of people doing small and great things to make it so. This was one occasion when it was good to "fixate" on something. Here is a second.

I am firmly convinced that when [with]tv successfully culminates with an operational television and web broadcasting channel, we will overnight alter, for the better, the lives of all people with disabilities in the world now and forever. We will also be able to document and publicize the heroic public and private efforts of those who came before us to forge out a community-wide agenda and personal empowerment. We will change overnight the global perception and opportunity for all people with disabilities by employment in arguably the most highly regarded and "in demand" industry out there - "Show Business".

Imagine Mary Tyler Moore in a wheelchair, Brian Williams using American Sign Language (ASL), a blind Tony Soprano, and a desperate housewife with developmental disabilities! We have them on the drawing board and in development. We need you now though. What do we need you to do? We need you to sign and publicize our Support Letter as much as you can. If Mitch, Anna, and I can go into meetings with potential investors and advertisers and show them a list of individuals, families, organizations and businesses numbering in the millions (there are no reasons we cannot), their heads will snap and they will cover their ears at the loud ringing of cash registers resounding in their heads.

It is up to me and you - each and every one of us -- to make this happen for ourselves, our friends, our children, for those who came before and who will come after. No hand outs, no requests for inclusion, no seminars on "hiring the handicapped," "employing the disabled," just good old blood, sweat and tears. This we can do, because we have done so before. Let's go to work my friends.

Howard Renensland, Founder and CEO of [with]tv

Part 3 - [with]tv - an important role model for countries all around the world

Written by: Anna Bergholtz, a Swedish freelance journalist, motivational speaker and the first blind film critic of Sweden.
E-mail: Anna@annasvision.se
Web Page (soon to be in English): http://www.annasvision.se/

Part 3

When I was sighted I had the same curiosity for persons being blind like a lot of people have for me today. I would not be surprised if I acted as if they came from another planet - the same way people can treat me now. For sure, no one does like that to be mean. I would say it is normal when you do not know anything about it. That’s why [with]tv is so important.

Everyone knows the power of media. It reaches us all. The more we learn, the less strange we feel about things. That is why I believe [with]tv can lead to disabled people becoming a natural part of society. Having a disability will be something we will all accept and will no longer be a big issue, as it often is today.

Sweden is often influenced by the States, certainly when it comes to media. It is the same for other countries around Europe. We are all small countries that do not always have the strength, resources and courage to try something new. [with]tv is definitely a bold step forward. I am sure it will be a good role model for others. When small countries like Sweden see that it works, they might follow. My hope is that we all can cooperate and that one day we will have [with]tv all over the world.

I encourage everyone to support PWdBC and [with]tv. It does not matter if you are a private person, an organization, a company or a whole community. They need all the support they can get. The more you support them now, the faster we will be all able to reach this important goal.

Part 2 - [with]tv - an important role model for countries all around the world.

Written by: Anna Bergholtz, a Swedish freelance journalist, motivational speaker and the first blind film critic of Sweden.
E-mail: Anna@annasvision.se
Web Page (soon to be in English): http://www.annasvision.se/

Part 2

Our show became a success. We got rewarded as the best running TV show that year. I was very proud and happy, but mostly full of hope. I thought it was just a matter of time before we were going to be seen again; that people with disabilities were going to become a part of TV like everyone else. And that we where going to run TV shows - not only about disabilities, but also about news, weather, culture and other issues. Now it is 2007, and I am almost ready giving up my hope about things changing.

A first step to mainstream, the TV people told us. It was obviously just words. I was shocked when one of the bosses explained that the audience would not be ready for a change in other shows. Ready to see a program leader, newsreader or a reporter with disabilities. According to him, people would not listen to what we have to say. They would instead focus on the Braille reading, the spastic movements, or weird looking eyes. It is understandable that everything is new in the beginning, but nothing will ever become different if you do not try. If I remember right, there was even a time in the history of Television when women where not welcome – which can be hard to believe today.

This is the main reason I feel so strongly for [with]tv and PWdBC. I hope that people with disabilities will one day be a part of broadcasting in a normal way. I am used to people watching me, but I am sure that will change if we are seen more on TV. People will see that we are like everyone else. Mothers, children, consumers, actors, husbands, sportsmen, politicians - that we are so much more then just our disability.

(To be continued)

Part 1 - [with]tv - an important role model for countries all around the world

Written by: Anna Bergholtz, a Swedish freelance journalist, motivational speaker and the first blind film critic of Sweden.
E-mail: Anna@annasvision.se
Web Page (soon to be in English): http://www.annasvision.se/

Part 1

Already existing toilets had to be rebuilt to become accessible for people using wheelchairs. For persons being visually impaired the computer-system did not work. For the blind to find their way around, a tactile tape was glued to the floors. Braille was also put on coffee-machines and in elevators. And for some, certain places in the building were completely inaccessible.

This was the situation when I went to work for Swedish Television in 2004. To me, it became pretty clear. People like me, journalists with disabilities, where far away from being common workers there. A person that was, was not to be seen, either behind or in front of the camera.

Three years later, you probably wonder if things changed. Unfortunately, I have to say not. The only reason for us with disabilities working there at that particular point was this new TV show. Swedish Television needed us since the program was about disabilities. Many people within Swedish Television said that this was the first step for things to become different. This was the start of mainstreaming disabled people. For the first time in Swedish history we had a person in wheelchair leading the TV show. And it was also, without a doubt, the only time that many people with disabilities worked there at the same time. And I am not exaggerating when I say I felt like a UFO.

(To be continued)

Welcome

Dear Friend,

On August 13, 1984 my life was wonderfully transformed. My daughter Victoria, a person with disabilities was born. At first this meant fighting for her physical survival and then fighting against her exclusion from opportunities her friends without disabilities enjoyed. Victoria and I fought for her access to playgrounds, pre-school, and kindergarten through high school. We fought for her access to worship, recreation, and socialization. We carried on topost-secondary inclusion at a fine university. Then came “the real world” and the forces excluding her there were the most formidable yet.

Our experiences of the past 22 years have crystallized my thinking. I believe the single most debilitating factor limiting people with disabilities is not their disability, but their image in mainstream media. When profiled, they remain objects of extreme pity or extreme inspiration. This image is not one of their choosing. As long as others define you, you do not exist.

As I write this letter, there is no mainstream television channel in the world addressing the needs of and targeting people with disabilities as viewers, consumers and participants. I resolve to change that by creating [with]tv, an inclusive media outlet that defines all people by their talents and the quality of their stories, rather than by disability; a place where Victoria and everyone else can work in a universally designed workplace with a welcoming, inclusive workforce.

People with disabilities have a global need for access to information, employment, artistic expression and control of their image. Furthermore, the need extends beyond people with disabilities. The disability community is a grossly underutilized source of market-share for companies, making a win-win solution for individuals, society, and business.

People with disabilities welcome you to the world of [with]tv, a television channel of, by, and for people with disabilities…and everyone else! We invite you to learn more about our business and our stories.

Sincerely,

Howard Renensland
President & Founder