Found on another list!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2000

For more information, contact:
Dave Reynolds (888) 551-8280

DISABILITY RIGHTS NEWS SERVICE REQUESTS PERSONAL STORIES

SPANGLE, WASHINGTON -- Inclusion Daily Express, a daily news and information
service that covers issues relating to the rights of people with
developmental
and other disabilities, announced today that it is seeking personal stories
by
such people and those that support them in their efforts toward community
integration and participation.

The service, which began delivering news and information via email at the
beginning of December 1999, deals specifically with people with mental
retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, and other developmental
disabilities, in the growing movement toward full community inclusion,
self-determination, and equal rights. The service includes daily news
summaries of current events, along with alerts, bulletins and press releases
about advocacy actions, and directs subscribers to other items found on the
Internet. It also focuses on improvements in inclusive education, abuse and
neglect, employment, direct care staff issues, important legislative
activities and Supreme Court rulings.

Now the service is expanding to include original features of people who have
challenged the perceptions of others to become as included in their
communities as they want to be.

"Other minority groups and even other disability groups have their own
resources that keep them informed of activities and events, thereby
connecting them in their common knowledge and values. They also feature
personal success stories to help inspire and motivate, " says Inclusion
Daily Express Editor Dave Reynolds. "Until now, no independent daily news
source has dealt consistently and respectfully with the rights of people who
have developmental and related disabilities. Inclusion Daily Express is an
effort to fill that void."

The intended audience of Inclusion Daily Express includes a wide variety of
people, says Reynolds, who runs the service from his office in the eastern
part of Washington State. "While some subscribers are administrators of
non-profit organizations, or staff of federal, state, and local agencies,
most
are people with disabilities, or their family members, direct care staff,
and
others who advocate for the rights of people with disabilities every day."

Many people with these disabilities would have been thought of as being
incapable of doing much in the past, primarily because they were kept away
from society in institutions or special education classes or schools. Laws
such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, along with improved technology, are helping
people to be more involved and informed, and to change society's
expectations and perceptions of them.

"You cannot assume anything, anymore," relates Reynolds. "I recently
discovered that a man I have been corresponding with for over a year has
autism and does not talk. He and others like him are communicating with
computers just fine. People who don't type are using voice recognition
software to write and send email messages. The other day a man was telling
me about being driven around a major Midwest city by a man who had Down
Syndrome. Just when you think you know what people are able and not able to
do, they prove everyone wrong!"

Those who have personal stories to submit are encouraged to contact the
editor at [log in to unmask] or toll free at (888) 551-8280. The
service also encourages advocacy groups and organizations to send alerts,
bulletins and press releases to the same email address.

Reynolds draws from a varied background to produce Inclusion Daily Express.
He
was a copywriter for a local TV station for five years, and contributed to a
local history book. Reynolds went on to serve people with disabilities for
sixteen years in special education, residential, employment services, and
community integration programs in three states. He has facilitated an
electronic mail list called Advocates for Full Community Inclusion, which
has
members all across North America and other countries, since October of 1998.

Last month, the Inclusion Daily Express website was given an "Outstanding
Website Award" by the Disability Network, and earlier this month was added
to the "Disability Studies Web Ring", a group of Internet sites that look at
the experience and culture of people who have disabilities.

####

FOR MORE INFORMATION on Inclusion Daily Express, please visit the website at
http://www.inclusiondaily.com , or direct inquiries to
[log in to unmask] .

Inonit Publishing
PO Box 68
Spangle, WA 99031
Toll Free: (888) 551-8280
Fax: (240) 282-4892
----
Dave Reynolds
[log in to unmask] ; Advocates for Full Community Inclusion
[log in to unmask] ; Inclusion Daily Express

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