TV Channel Will Include Disabled

Here's an interesting idea for a TV channel. Wouldn't it be cool if you could get this on Cable or Satellite? Hmm, there's a thought. Anyway, here's the article. Enjoy.

TV channel will include disabled
By Valerie Brew-Parrish
Suburban Chicago Newspapers (IL), August 05, 2005

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

Let's see. . .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.

Christopher 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.

It staggers the imagination to realize that worldwide there are over 600
million people with significant disabilities. There are approximately 54-56
million Americans with disabilities, and the numbers keep increasing.

Yet, the mainstream media never focuses 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.

I was pleased to read that James Troesh will be a board advisor along with
several other movers and shakers on disability rights for this innovative
and long overdue broadcast corporation.

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

For further information, check out this Web site:
www.pwdbc.org