9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Hi, I'm Beth Haller 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm a professor of Mass Communication[br]at Towsen University in Maryland 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I also teach Disability Studies there[br]and at several other campuses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I teach at City University of New York[br]and their Disability Studies programme 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I teach at York University in Toronto[br]and their Disability Studies programme 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I teach at University of Texas, Arlington[br]and their Disability Studies minor 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I've been doing research since[br]the early 90's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 About media representations of people[br]with disabilities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I have a kind of unique[br]relationship to the ADA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because I did my dissertation on[br]how the news media covered it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So before I went to Temple University[br]in Philadelphia to get my PhD 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was at University of Maryland College[br]Park getting my Masters 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I started that in 1989 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And there's a reason for all these numbers[br](laughs) these dates 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And in 1988 is when the Deaf President[br]Now movement happened 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That gathered at university in DC, and I[br]think somewhere in the back of my mind 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I knew about what was happening because I[br]was a journalist before I became academic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So when I started at College Park in 1989[br]I ended up doing an article for a class 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 About a deaf student at Gallaudet and I[br]got very interested in the deaf community 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's a huge deaf community[br]in the DC area 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Doing my Masters thesis on how the[br]deaf community was represented 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Before, during and after [br]Deaf President Now 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the New York Times and the[br]Washington Post 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That was a jumping-off point 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When I left College Park it was 1991[br]and so the ADA had just been passed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And when I got to Temple to start [br]working on my PhD 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I knew that I wanted to still work in[br]the area of disability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we just had this major disability[br]rights law passed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I remember it more as a focus[br]of my research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Cause I don't necessarily remember seeing[br]the actual coverage on the day it happened 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In 1990, but I do remember looking at all[br]the coverage cause that was the subject 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Of my dissertation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So it was really interesting to look[br]at it as an academic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And to kind of watch it happen and[br]then not happen (laughs) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As it moved into the future 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So my dissertation looked at how the[br]mainstream news media 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, all the big news magazines[br]and the major newspapers back then 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I finished my dissertation in '94[br]Graduated in '95 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So it was very early days of the ADA so it[br]wasn't really being implemented yet 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because they gave several years for[br]people to get into compliance 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But as the years have passed it's been[br]very interesting to watch how things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Weren't happening 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I think what we all thought was[br]going to happen was: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Congress was going to pass this major[br]disability rights law 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And people would then follow it[br]because it's now federal law 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Not to discriminate based on disability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that isn't what happened (laughs) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And from a media standpoint, that really[br]kind of hurt ADA because- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I've even had this conversation with[br]disability rights scholars and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Disability rights activists-[br]because they I think thought 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In that same way that it's now law[br]and everything will be fine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And there was such a history of being[br]covered in the media so badly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That the activists thought they could get[br]this past and everything would be fine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And they didn't need the[br]media for anything 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I come onto the scene, I start going[br]to Society for Disability studies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Meetings in the early 90's,[br]started presenting my research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And even the disability community in those[br]first early years right after the ADA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Didn't understand why the[br]media was important 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because I remember presenting[br]at a conference 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 At a Disability Studies conference[br]And people coming up to me and saying 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "That's really nice that you do work on[br]media, but we have bigger things we 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Need to be dealing with: getting people[br]jobs, getting people proper education 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Getting people out of nursing homes."[br]My response to everybody was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "How do you think you're going to do that[br]if you're not getting out information 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Into public opinion, so if you're not[br]able to change public opinion 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 How can you get these[br]things accomplished? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And how do you get public opinion[br]changed? You get a proper narrative 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Going in the media." And now there's[br]actual disability studies, research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And disability activists who've talked[br]about this in the early 2000's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 About how they took the wrong tactic[br]after the ADA was passed