The American Association of People with Disabilities is now accepting applications for the 2015 NBC Universal Tony Coelho Media Scholarship. Four scholarships are available to undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities who are pursuing degrees in communications or media-relations. Each recipient will receive $5,625 for tuition and fees at their college or university.
The scholarship is named in honor of Tony Coelho, a former United States Representative from California and the primary author and sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Coelho also served as a judge for the second annual Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, administered through the NCDJ.
For more information about applying, visit the AAPD website and read below.
Health & Disability Advocates senior policy analyst Joe Entwisle argues that 2015 will be the best year yet for job seekers with disabilities, citing new regulations and legislation as being among the reasons why. Read more…
A deaf man able to communicate only with sign language has alleged in a federal lawsuit that he was held for six weeks in the Arlington County jail last year after jailers failed to provide an interpreter or allow him to call attorneys or a friend by videophone. Read more…
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs has filed a lawsuit accusing four D.C. cab companies of discriminating against blind passengers with service dogs. Read more…
Three high school seniors from Phoenix, Arizona, took home first place in their division for C-SPAN’s Student Cam 2015 documentary competition. “An IDEA for Tomorrow,” produced by Severiano Romo, Alexis Rainery and Molly Kerwick of the Metropolitan Arts Institute, showcases the single piece of federal legislation governing the education of children with disabilities– IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Tim McGuire, former Minneapolis Star Tribune editor who holds the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, is featured in a webinar hosted by the National Center on Disability and Journalism.
McGuire discusses his experiences writing and publishing his first book, “Some People Even Take Them Home: A Disabled Dad, a Down Syndrome Son, and Our Journey to Acceptance.” McGuire, a board member of the NCDJ, tells the story of his family, his own disability and that of his son Jason.
McGuire also answers questions about tips and best practices when reporting on people with disabilities, advising against taking an “oh-those-poor-people” approach that he says he has observed in a lot of disability reporting.
Instead, he suggests that reporters “exalt and respect” people with disabilities while also normalizing their triumphs and failures as they would anyone else.
The Association of Opinion Journalists shares important resources and information about reporting on disability issues, highlighting the National Center on Disability and Journalism as well as other organizations. Read More
KD Smart Chair, a manufacturer of power wheelchairs, recently released an infographic that visualizes the facts, numbers and figures about the wheelchair industry. The infographic provides some interesting background on the history and use of wheelchairs in the U.S. and around the world. http://kdsmartchair.com/blogs/news/18706123-wheelchair-facts-numbers-and-figures-infographic
Disability Reporting Webinar with Tim McGuire, Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and author of “Some People Even Take Them Home”
Hosted by the National Center on Disability and Journalism
The National Center on Disability and Journalism will host a webinar featuring the author of a new book “Some People Even Take Them Home,” which tells the story of living with disabilities through the experience of a father and his son. The author, Tim McGuire, is the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and a board member of the NCDJ, which is housed at the Cronkite School. His book, “Some People Even Take Them Home: A Disabled Dad, a Down Syndrome Son, and Our Journey to Acceptance,” recounts his personal experience with physical disabilities and raising his son, Jason, who has Down syndrome.
McGuire is the former editor and senior vice president of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and wrote a nationally syndicated column, “More Than Work,” focusing on ethics, spirituality and values in the workplace, before joining the Cronkite School in 2006 to teach ethics and diversity and the business of journalism.
In addition to talking about his book, McGuire will discuss current media coverage and the perceptions people have of those who live with a disability.
These bloggers regularly write about disability, often from a personal perspective:
• Tim McGuire blogs about the invisible disabilities that people often overlook or misunderstand. McGuire, the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Cronkite School and the author of “Some People Even Take Them Home” A Disabled Dad, A Down syndrome Son and Our Journey to Acceptance, blogs at McGuire on Life, Disability and Grief. http://mcguireonlife.com/2015/01/16/invisibile-disabilities-demand-our-understanding/.
• Amy Silverman, managing editor of the Phoenix New Times alternative newspaper, can be heard regularly on public radio talking about her experiences raising a daughter with Down syndrome. In a piece titled “The Trouble with Boys,” Silverman recounts her daughter’s first year of junior high school. http://kjzz.org/content/79408/amy-silverman-trouble-boys.
• Beth Haller’s Media dis&dat blog has become the go-to place for the latest news and information about people with disabilities and disability issues. Recent postings include an article about “outcasting” on TV shows and a research study that shows blindness simulations can negatively affect perceptions of the visually impaired. Haller is professor of journalism and new media at Towson University in Maryland and the author of “Representing Disability in an Ableist World.” http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/.
