Moving Forward

Diversity is a creative opportunity for the American media to reflect the totality of the U.S. viewing audience. While great strides have been made to increase the presence of people of different genders, races, and sexual orientations in television programming – there still lags an area where much improvement is needed. Today’s national media outputs fail to appropriately include people with disabilities. As a young male with a hearing impairment, I find this very disappointing.

With-TV will change the journalistic climate. By displaying credible and honest faces of people with disabilities to the American viewing audience on its cable network, With-TV will demonstrate the intelligence, talent, and skill many people with disabilities have. With-TV will help show that people with special needs can succeed and make positive contributions to our society.

Your support of With-TV is greatly appreciated. Please visit with www.withtv.typepad.com.

Careers -- where were people with disabilities?

I recently attended a career fair at the University of Wisconsin - Madison on behalf of my firm. Each year we go to schools across the United States to recruit college graduates. This is my second year recruiting at UW-Madison -- specifically at the Business School's career fair.

I met a lot of strong potential candidates at the fair. However, as a person with a hearing impairment who wears hearing aids, I don't recall seeing any person -- neither recruiters nor students -- with a visible disability at the fair. It is very possible that I was the only one.

Shouldn't this be different?
Shouldn't the school's McBurney disability center be encouraging people with special needs to attend the fair?

Desire, Dare, You

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything".
Napoleon Hill

"Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment...intention and desire have infinite power. And when we introduce an intention in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, we put the infinite power to work for us".
Deepak Chopra

"All glory comes from daring to begin".
Eugene F. Ware

Stay true to the desires of your heart and dare to be you, exactly the way you are. As you dare to begin to be you, you will find the key to the infinite happiness that lies only within you.

Rob

Emily's hearing aids

Emily got red hearing aids! Watch her as she receives her hearing aids for the first time and how it enhances her hearing experience. Go Emily!

Tan

My hearing aids are tan. They are not a brownish-red tan commonly associated with changed skin color after prolonged exposure to the sun, nor are they a yellowish tan similar to the color of sandy beaches on a sunny day along a waterfront. Rather, my hearing aids are a tan that imitates the color of Caucasian skin.

I wear behind-the-ear hearing aids and need a way in which sound can be carried from the instruments into my ears -- my ear molds serve this purpose. My ear molds are a clear plastic with a hint of pinkish-tan. My ear molds are not the faint pink fashionably (and perhaps arguably) considered the new black, nor is it a deep pink similar to the color of my grandma’s lipstick. Rather, the pinkish-tan attempts to represent the color of my inner ear canal.

Does something seem wrong with this picture? Audiologists and I – knowingly or unknowingly -- attempt to diminish the visibility of my disability by trying to make my hearing aids blend in with my current body anatomy. But, why?

Historically, the condition of having a disability was considered tragic in a society in which people were expected to be perfect. Having a disability or family member with a disability was perceived as a weakness. As a result, many people with special needs were institutionalized and a race began to create instruments that minimize or get rid of any visible special need. My hearing aids are a product of this historic era.

My hearing aids are also a reflection of the embarrassment elderly people feel when they begin losing their hearing. Because they once had their hearing in youth, many of them see a hearing loss as a sign of weakness and aging. Therefore, they seek out instruments that fit in the ear canal or are minimally visible when worn.

It wasn’t until several years ago when I began to see hearing aids become out in different colors. I’m currently in the process of getting new hearing aids and asked my audiologist about colored hearing aids. I was thinking about red, blue, or silver – any color other than tan. He asked me, “What is in it for you -- would you be making a statement?” I wasn’t sure how to answer. It could be a statement … or it could be just for fun.

What would your answer have been? Feel free to post a comment or send me an email at remmettroy@gmail.com