[Nfbc-info] FW: Fort Worth reporter comments on discrimination from her perspective.

Tue Dec 16 20:59:27 UTC 2008

Subject: Fort Worth reporter comments on discrimination from her
perspective.

>From Fort Worth: 

HYPERLINK
"http://www.star-telegram.com/189/story/1094846.html"http://www.star--telegr
am.-com/189/story/-1094846.html

Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008
Posted on Mon, Dec. 15, 2008

First person: "I am glad the Star-Telegram chose to ignore negative
stereotypes when I was hired"

Elizabeth Campbell
HYPERLINK "mailto:liz%40star-telegram.com"liz at star-telegram.-com
Editor's note: Elizabeth Campbell has been a reporter at the "Star-Telegram"
since 1984. She covers government affairs, focusing on Parker and Johnson
counties,
as well as surrounding cities. She is president of the National Federation
of the Blind chapter in Fort Worth and has founded a group for blind
journalists
throughout the world. She works with a Seeing Eye dog, Gabe.

This weekend's "Saturday Night Live" skit portraying New York Gov. David
Paterson, who is legally blind, as an incompetent, bumbling idiot is an
unfair,
condescending slap in the face to the disabled in the United States.

The skit comes on the heels of the movie, “Blindness," which is based on a
novel that depicts blind people as demented, cruel thugs when a mysterious
disease
strikes a city.

These depictions bring forth stereotypes that blind people have battled for
years.

Is it fair to poke fun at people who face an unemployment rate of 70 percent
or higher, and a high poverty rate at a time when our economy is in dire
straights?

Is it fair to make fun of a governor who was thrust into a difficult job,
and who now must make the difficult choice of whom he will appoint to fill
Sen.
Hillary Clinton's seat, just because he is blind?

I consider myself to be very fortunate because I was given a chance to
demonstrate that I can work alongside my sighted colleagues as a newspaper
reporter.

I am glad the "Star-Telegram" chose to ignore negative stereotypes and
images when I was hired.

Is it fair that the blind and disabled may not be given a chance to prove
what we can do because people get their information from a late-night TV
show
or films that reach a wide audience?

At a time when President-elect Barack Obama is reaching out to include the
disabled in policy-making and planning for his new administration, let's not
get sidetracked by petty, mean-spirited depictions that serve no purpose.

Everyone deserves a chance for success.

Star-Telegram.-com

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