This was on another list. Strange that Bush's potty mouth got more air time
than this.
Joanne
----- Original Message -----
From: Dissident Writer <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 4:52 PM
Subject: [OK] Al Gore camp's treatment of wheelchair-using journalist


> This story shocked the hell out of me. It hit home because it reminded me
of
> my disabled journalist colleagues. Two fellow reporters at The Orange
County
> (Calif.) Register whom I worked with three years ago or so were disabled -
> one was blind and the other used a wheelchair. Both did the same job I did
> covering cities and schools. And they did a good job too. How so? I took
> over the beat the woman with the wheelchair had because she got promoted.
It
> seems the Gore campaign - not that politicians like journalists anyway -
> didn't want to do anything to make this man's job easier. Isn't it ironic?
>
> Tony P.
>
> http://fl.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000905f5a1goreco.frm
> Gore folks push reporter's wheelchair out of race for story
>
> Tuesday, September 5, 2000
>
>
> By Chad Swiatecki
> Flint Journal column
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
>
>
>
>
>
> It was supposed to be a dream assignment.
>
> When word came down last week that presidential hopeful Al Gore was
planning
> a trip to Flint, and when the job of covering Gore's and running mate
Joseph
> I. Lieberman's visit got handed to yours truly, it brought with it a
chance
> to write about the man who could be the next president of the United
States.
>
> No one gave a thought as to whether my wheelchair would be a problem.
>
> This was a job reporters here at the Journal vied heavily for, offering to
> give up part of their holiday weekends to get close to Al and Joe and pick
> their brains on all things Flint.
>
> And here I was, four months out of college and barely a modicum of
political
> expertise, getting all the Gore I could handle simply by virtue of being
the
> paper's Sunday reporter.
>
> Though it sets me apart from every other reporter at the Journal, the
> wheelchair I use, before Sunday, had caused me little or no difficulty in
> covering the suburban communities I'm responsible for during the week.
>
> Soon, however, I learned that wasn't the case when it came down to rubbing
> elbows with Al and Joe.
>
> While in Flint, the Gore campaign was to make a stop at an undisclosed
> location that its spokespeople said was inaccessible to wheelchairs.
>
> The campaign said it couldn't allow me to follow the motor pool in my car
to
> the location and the vans for the rest of the press corps couldn't
> accommodate my wheelchair.
>
> Going it alone would have drastically limited the scope of what I could
> cover to just the Hurley visit, making the story I could write inferior to
> what other papers and media could deliver.
>
> Not wanting to compromise the story for our readers, my editors and I
agreed
> it would be best to have another reporter come in to follow Gore to his
> other appearance, which turned out to be at the GM Truck and Bus plant.
>
> Though I was glad to have backup, especially given my status as a
political
> novice, the situation irked me into action to find out why the man who
wants
> to be my next president wasn't willing to meet my needs.
>
> I wanted answers.
>
> Unfortunately, talking to Gore staffers to try to get an explanation for
> their lack of preparation yielded nothing more than a pert assistant
saying,
> with as big a smile as possible, "We've never run into a situation like
this
> before."
>
> Needless to say, I wasn't smiling.
>
> I suppose I could take that as a compliment, the fact that by trying to do
> my job I'm - hopefully - alerting a presidential hopeful that he needs to
be
> prepared on all fronts all the time.
>
> But I'm more inclined to think that a candidate who doesn't have enough
> foresight or flexibility to let an extra car into the motor pool or make
> sure a campaign stop has a wheelchair ramp isn't the candidate I'd be
> inclined to vote for come November.
>
> This is something new for me, since I've always thought myself akin to
> Booker T. Washington where it concerns the disability movement, preferring
> to make as little noise as possible and effect change on a small scale
> instead of fighting tooth-and-nail for large-scale reform.
>
> But now I'm starting to rethink that stance.
>
> After all, they say the squeaky wheel is the one that gets greased.
>
> Well, Al, I've got four of them. Can you hear them yet?
>
>
> Chad Swiatecki covers the Linden and Holly areas. He can be reached at
> (810)766-6237 or by e-mail at [log in to unmask]
>
> ~~~~~  http://www.our-kids.org/    for Help/Info/Interest  ~~~~~
>
>