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)