Every Sunday and Thursday, Karen Meyer shares stories centered around people with disabilities on ABC News in Chicago. She delivers her news segments using both sign and voice and the segments are open-captioned as well.
When Karen first began as a reporter, her first broadcast was met with a small shower of opposition from some commenters on local radio shows. Karen's speech has a "deaf" accent to it and some commenters felt that she had no place on the air without perfect speech. I was working at a Center for Independent Living at that time and a co-worker summarized some of the comments that were made. The comments bugged the heck out of me because it was about time that the general population recognized that there were people with disabilities out there and we certainly had stories to share. How ironic that a radio show would broadcast a commentary about a deaf person who couldn't even access the radio shows in the first place.
Incensed, I sat down and immediately wrote a letter to Joe Ahern, the general manager at the time, encouraging ABC News to continue to be the leader by having a reporter with a disability and the spotlight on disability issues. He promptly wrote me back and explained that the news station was standing behind Karen and had no intention of letting her go despite the comments from the radio show.
This was back in 1991, and Karen is still at the helm each week, reporting 104 stories per year. Each week on the website, current stories can be viewed:
ABC News with Karen Meyer
Over at CBS News, Jim Mullen also does similar reporting:
CBS News with Jim Mullen
How about in your city? Are there other TV news reporters with disabilities out there? Share in the comment section.
