Calling All Bloggers...and everyone else

Dear Friends,

As a volunteer working with the folks at [with]tv I have recently been honored with the title “blog master”. In that capacity I am writing to disability bloggers I know and respect to ask for support. I (we) are hoping you would be willing to either write a post, submit a post you’ve already written, or even join us as a “columnist” and submit posts whenever the mood strikes.

Posts can be submitted to my attention at articles@with-tv.com. This blog is a work in progress and I (we) sure would appreciate your support. While you’re here, please sign the Guest Book and let us know what you think. We’re working hard to spread the word. Anything you can do to help would surely give us a boost!

Thank you,

Connie Kuusisto
Blog Master, [with]tv

P.S. A person need not be a blogger to submit articles to [with]tv or to sign the Guest Book. Anyone interested in the topic of disability is encouraged to participate.

Cross-posted on the Planet of the Blind

Support [with]tv

[with]tv would like your show of support to demonstrate to our potential corporate partners, advertisers and investors that there is not only a need for our service, but strong American and International support for our programming. Please read the support letter, click on "Guest Book" below, and fill out the form.

________________________________________________________________________

Howard Renensland
CEO and Founder
[with]tv

Dear Mr. Renensland:

I would like to express my wholehearted support for [with]tv’s mission of providing accessible television and Internet programming that, while appealing to broader markets, is focused on providing high quality, news and entertainment programming that meets the needs and interests of persons with disabilities, and those committed to them personally, professionally, and commercially.

People with disabilities have a global need as individuals and as a community for access to information, employment, artistic expression, and control of their image. The disability community, which in the United States alone is 54 million strong with a discretionary income of $220 billion, is a grossly underutilized source of both talent and market share for companies, making [with]tv a win-win solution for individuals, society, and business.

I intend to support your content, partners, and advertisers in every way possible. I congratulate you on the work that you and your colleagues at [with]tv have done thus far and wish you the best of luck going forward. Please keep me informed of your progress and let me know if I may be of any further assistance.

To show your support of [with]tv, please sign our Guest Book.

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

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