Institute for Disability Studies to Hold Free Disability Awareness Webinar

The Institute for Disability Studies at The University of Southern Mississippi will host a free disability awareness Webinar for media professionals at 1 p.m. on Thursday, November 4.

The Webinar will inform media professionals on best practices for writing and reporting about people with disabilities and the use of People First Language. Dr. Glenn White, director of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living (RTCIL) at the University of Kansas, will present information on RTCIL's Guidelines for Reporting and Writing About People with Disabilities, one of the resources available through the Webinar. Information will also be presented on making Web sites accessible.  

Funded through a grant from the Gannett Foundation's Community Grant Program and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger newspaper, the Webinar will allow media professionals to participate from their offices. This is a one hour-long educational Webinar which is supported by education materials and resources available on the Web page: www.usm.edu/ids/boltoflightning.

“We are pleased to bring this information to Mississippi's journalists and newscasters on behalf of Mississippi's disability community,” said Dr. Royal Walker, executive director of the Institute for Disability Studies. “This Webinar is particularly appropriate given that this year marks the 20^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

To participate in the Webinar, media professionals can connect via  the Internet to the designated link on the project Web page -- www.usm.edu/ids/boltoflightning and follow the directions for connection via Blackboard Wimba. Participants are encouraged to login the day before the Webinar to update their computer system to ensure Wimba compliance. The live Webinar will be recorded and archived for later use by those media professionals unable to participate in the live session.

For more information about the media awareness Webinar, call Alma Ellis in the Jackson office of the Institute for Disability Studies toll free at 1.866.883.4474 or e-mail her at alma.ellisFREEMississippi.