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Perhaps of interest to some of you...<br>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">Subject: </th>
<td>New Site Opens Eyes to Treatment of the Disabled: Video Blog
Capturing Incidents of Ignorance</td>
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<td>Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:03:28 -0700</td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">From: </th>
<td>Eva Sweeney <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:thirty2flavors01@gmail.com"><thirty2flavors01@gmail.com></a></td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:contact@edchange.org">contact@edchange.org</a></td>
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<td id="fip9" style="border: 1px dotted gray; text-align: left;"
width="50%">Contact: Eva Sweeney<br id="k5v5">
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width="50%">For Immediate Release<br id="a5ws">
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width="50%">Telephone: [510.575.3397]<br id="vvk1">
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<td id="nam." style="border: 1px dotted gray; text-align: left;"
width="50%">Email: [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:thirty2flavors01@gmail.com">thirty2flavors01@gmail.com</a>]<br
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<td id="l4gk" style="border: 1px dotted gray;" width="100%"><font
class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><font size="4">New Site Opens Eyes
to Treatment of the Disabled</font></font></td>
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size="2">Video Blog Capturing Incidents of Ignorance<br id="gzh:">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2">The Deal
With Disability (</font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thedealwithdisability.blogspot.com/"
style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);"><font size="2">http://thedealwithdisability.blogspot.com/</font></a><font
size="2">) is a new video blog capturing one 26-year-old woman's
experience navigating through life with a "severe" physical disability.
Eva Sweeney was born with a condition called cerebral palsy, which
means that she cannot walk, speak, or use her muscles in conventional
ways. She uses a power wheelchair to get around and spells out what she
wants to say on a letter board. </font></p>
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</font></p>
<font size="2">Since kindergarten, Sweeney has been in mainstream
schools, often as the only disabled person. She went on to graduate
from Occidental College with a BA in gender studies. She has created an
organization for disabled people, and has traveled the country giving
lectures and presentations on the topic of disability awareness.
Through all of this, Sweeney has learned to find amusement in the way
that people approach her in public. <br>
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She has created this video blog in an effort to capture how the public
treat her. A small camera is mounted to her wheelchair as she records
the way she is treated in public on a day-to-day basis. Each video is
accompanied by introspective writing on the matter. Such incidents
include being offered gifts from strangers (such as a bar of soap, free
Michael Jackson T-shirts, and money), being treated like a child, being
hugged or patted on the head, being prayed over, etc. Then it is wryly
explained why this behavior is offensive, absurd, or annoying. </font></td>
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<td id="jt0h" style="border: 1px dotted gray;" width="100%"><font
size="2">One reader said, "Your blog has been extremely eye opening
for me." One person commented, "Apparently, I've got some work to do on
myself. Thank you, honestly, for this project." Another said, "I think
you have an opportunity to educate here on a profound level."<br>
<br>
In the first month since the blog's creation there were13,000 views. <br>
<br>
This blog is meant to show society's views and treatment of disabled
people. At times it can be quite funny and at other times very
infuriating. Preconceptions about disabled people are one of the few
prejudices that has gone widely undiscussed. The prejudice that Sweeney
encounters is exacerbated by the fact that she cannot talk back, and
people are unwilling to take the time to learn how she communicates.
Sweeney hopes "that the blog will enlighten and educate the public on
the daily trials and tribulations of interacting in an able-bodied
world."<br>
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<td id="tbi7" style="border: 1px dotted gray;" width="100%">For
more information about this topic, please contact Eva Sweeney by
calling 510.575.3397, or e-mail Eva Sweeney at <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:thirty2flavors01@gmail.com">thirty2flavors01@gmail.com</a>.<br>
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</span>---<br>
510-575-3397<br>
Website: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thedealwithdisability.blogspot.com/">http://thedealwithdisability.blogspot.com/</a><br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Paul C. Gorski
Founder, EdChange - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.EdChange.org">http://www.EdChange.org</a>
Multicultural Pavilion - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.edchange.org/multicultural">http://www.edchange.org/multicultural</a>
Social Justice News - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.socialjusticenews.net">http://www.socialjusticenews.net</a>
SoJust Human Rights History Project - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sojust.net">http://www.sojust.net</a>
International Assn. for Intercultural Education - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.iaie.org">http://www.iaie.org</a>
Social Justice Store - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cafepress.com/edchange">http://www.cafepress.com/edchange</a>
Multicultural Poster Store - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.edchange.org/posters">http://www.edchange.org/posters</a>
Feminist-Tees - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cafepress.com/feminist_tees">http://www.cafepress.com/feminist_tees</a>
EcoJustice Shop - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cafepress.com/ecojustice">http://www.cafepress.com/ecojustice</a>
</pre>
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