Endeavor Freedom TV

And here we have the start of another TV channel for pwd. Received an email from this nonprofit organization this morning. Their site reads:

"...based near Athens, GA, founded in 2001 to assist people with disabilities in transitioning from nursing homes and institutions back into the community.

This year Endeavor Freedom, Inc. received a grant to create a media organization for people with disabilities run by people with disabilities".

The idea came into being when advocates realized that disability issues weren't receiving coverage from the mainstream media. The site reads:

"People with disabilities make-up 20% of the population and yet disability news, stories, and events make up less than 3% of what the corporate media reports on. If you happen to be in a minority with a disability you are represented even less, and if you are poor and a minority with a disability, then truly nothing in mainstream culture reflect your/our everyday experience of life. EndeavorFreedom.tv wants to change all that. We want to capture and relay the everyday stories of everyday struggle by everyday people with disabilities just trying to manage the American dream here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We want you to be the hero, the star, the story and we want you to share with us the stories that you consider news, issues which are important to you, that are rarely if ever seen on corporate news."

I went over to YouTube and looked under endeavor freedom and found quite a few videos. Here's one that's a great example of the power of media for pwd. It's called "About being considered retarded". This six minute long video is well worth an entire watch. One of the most important messages is toward the end, and deals with observations about how society has difficulties treating people with cognitive disabilities as other than non-persons. It's a powerful message.