[Iabs-talk] Note rom Sharon H

Sun Oct 14 14:30:18 CDT 2007

I wanted to share this note.  

--
Patti S. Gregory-Chang 
President, National Federation of the Blind of Illinois 
pattisgregory at comcast.net 
www.nfbofillinois.org 

-------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- 
From: <shrnhow at att.net> 
To: <pattisgregory at comcast.net> 
Subject: meeting, etc 
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:51:49 +0000 

Patti, 
I had planned to come to the NFBI meeting tomorrow but was in New York for the Guiding Eyes Walk-a-Thon last weekend and seem to have developed some kind of cold or something from the hotel, the plane or who knows where. Anyway, I am starting to rehearse Sunday for a rather involved choir activity which will take place on November 2 and think I need to keep myself at home this weekend more than I'd intended and get rid of this cough. I'm singing alto for the first time for this particular event. 

So I'll attend a meeting another time for sure. I'm very interested in what seems to be going on here and am impressed with the material that people submit.

Since we are singing Nov 2, I will not be able to attend the state convention.

Finally, I'm pasting a message below which I sent to
wbbm-tvnewsdesk at cbs.com
I hope that you will read it and, if you think it is appropriate, you are welcome to post it to the il-talk list or let me know and I will. 

Thank you and I look forward to meeting you and the others soon.
Will you be meeting in November on the 10th?
Sharon Howerton

On the October 10, 2007 10 PM news, there was a story concerning Jim Mullen and the loss of his job as disability reporter for your station because of the
limitations of his City of Chicago disability pension. I would like to take this opportunity to make a comment and offer a suggestion. 

I am blind and have worked in the field of disabilities for all of my career, more than 35 years. Each system has its own way of dealing with disabled individuals.
City employees, as I understand, do not pay into the Social Security system. Thus, the regulations concerning employment and receipt of benefits are different
for City employees who do not pay into the Social Security system as opposed to the millions of workers like myself who do. NO, I do not receive Social
Security benefits. I work and have for more than 35 years like other individuals of my age. This story is essentially mixing apples and oranges. 

On the other hand, issues concerning individuals with disabilities are important. Disability has no age restriction so affects infants and seniors, the
individuals themselves, their families, the places where they live and play, and the places where they could or do work. Highlighting issues relevant to
individuals with all kinds of disabilities can be an important part of your news system. As a result, I would strongly hope that your station will see
fit to replace Mr. Mullen and promote the needs of the disabled population, not only our problems but our successes as well since there are many. One does
not need a high profile individual like Mr. Mullen to do this. Surely there must be an individual, even an individual with a disability, to promote our
issues. One could even expand such a reporter to include issues related to seniors. There are a lot of us baby boomers out here, and with aging come medical
issues which are--you guessed it--disabilities which are NOT medical stories. 

My hope is that many others share my views and will contact your station with their opinions. 

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon Howerton    
-------------- next part --------------
I wanted to share this note. 

--
Patti S. Gregory-Chang
President, National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
pattisgregory at comcast.net
www.nfbofillinois.org

-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: <shrnhow at att.net>
To: <pattisgregory at comcast.net>
Subject: meeting, etc
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:51:49 +0000
Patti,
I had planned to come to the NFBI meeting tomorrow but was in New York for the Guiding Eyes Walk-a-Thon last weekend and seem to have developed some kind of cold or something from the hotel, the plane or who knows where. Anyway, I am starting to rehearse Sunday for a rather involved choir activity which will take place on November 2 and think I need to keep myself at home this weekend more than I'd intended and get rid of this cough. I'm singing alto for the first time for this particular event.

So I'll attend a meeting another time for sure. I'm very interested in what seems to be going on here and am impressed with the material that people submit.

Since we are singing Nov 2, I will not be able to attend the state convention.

Finally, I'm pasting a message below which I sent to
mailto:wbbm-tvnewsdesk at cbs.com wbbm-tvnewsdesk at cbs.com
I hope that you will read it and, if you think it is appropriate, you are welcome to post it to the il-talk list or let me know and I will.

Thank you and I look forward to meeting you and the others soon.
Will you be meeting in November on the 10th?
Sharon Howerton

On the October 10, 2007 10 PM news, there was a story concerning Jim Mullen and the loss of his job as disability reporter for your station because of the
limitations of his City of Chicago disability pension. I would like to take this opportunity to make a comment and offer a suggestion. 

I am blind and have worked in the field of disabilities for all of my career, more than 35 years. Each system has its own way of dealing with disabled individuals.
City employees, as I understand, do not pay into the Social Security system. Thus, the regulations concerning employment and receipt of benefits are different
for City employees who do not pay into the Social Security system as opposed to the millions of workers like myself who do. NO, I do not receive Social
Security benefits. I work and have for more than 35 years like other individuals of my age. This story is essentially mixing apples and oranges. 

On the other hand, issues concerning individuals with disabilities are important. Disability has no age restriction so affects infants and seniors, the
individuals themselves, their families, the places where they live and play, and the places where they could or do work. Highlighting issues relevant to
individuals with all kinds of disabilities can be an important part of your news system. As a result, I would strongly hope that your station will see
fit to replace Mr. Mullen and promote the needs of the disabled population, not only our problems but our successes as well since there are many. One does
not need a high profile individual like Mr. Mullen to do this. Surely there must be an individual, even an individual with a disability, to promote our
issues. One could even expand such a reporter to include issues related to seniors. There are a lot of us baby boomers out here, and with aging come medical
issues which are--y ou guessed it--disabilities which are NOT medical stories. 

My hope is that many others share my views and will contact your station with their opinions. 

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon Howerton   