Why [with]tv?

Howard Renensland, CEO & Founder, [with]tv

I began [with]tv in order to provide welcoming, inclusive, accessible, creative employment opportunities for my daughter with disabilities, myself, our friends in the community of people with disabilities and our peers throughout this country and the world. I began this venture in short so all of us could make money, knowing how bleak and limited the employment picture is for our community.

I could have picked a number of different industries to start a business in, since the employment opportunity picture concerning people with disabilities is not pretty anywhere, with the possible exception of the world of disability advocacy. My wife and I had talked of opening a small bookstore, given our love of reading and the feeling that such an environment and its clientele would create a welcoming environment and a home for our daughter and others. I soon realized though that while a “home” was needed, it was one in another industry.

As I examined Victoria’s and my struggle to find employment for her and the total picture of all employment opportunities for the entire spectrum of disabilities, attended numerous workshops and lectures on the subject and spoke with any number of members of the community I realized that each industry mirrored it’s fellow industries in end result. We were not employed, we were not deemed employable without a great deal of bother to our employers, we were not welcome in any appreciable number, the idea of employing us in any meaningful capacity and quantity filled our employers with “fear and wonder”.

The fact that when given a chance to perform we performed more than admirably, excelling the performance of our peer employees without disabilities in many key categories was ignored or scoffed at. This happened even when those employing us from CEO to VP of HR to Manager, Supervisor and fellow worker extolled not only our performance, but an unexpected by welcomed favorable impact on the morale of the workforce and the atmosphere of the workplace. This impact is one which school districts, classrooms and teachers have remarked on as the concept of “Inclusion” took a foothold in American Education, thanks to the ADA.

(I must add a footnote or personal comment here. I have always been amused with this term of “Inclusion” when it would more accurately be described as “anti-segregation”, because we were historically “in” the classroom but became segregated out by well intentioned educators and others when it seemed educationally and financially more appropriate to segregate.)

It was obvious to me that this “exclusion” from the workforce and workplace was a carbon copy of any other group in history, some of which have been “protected” by law and some of which have not. My God, we even had our countries returning veterans from foreign wars needing to advocate for their return and inclusion in the society these brave men and women had risked their lives for.

I came to the realization that I should chose film and television production because I would be “killing many birds with one stone” by my working to successfully establish [with]tv as a mainstream, mass media, inclusive, accessible, media platform and content provider of, by, and for, people with disabilities…and everyone else. We will

1.    Put people with disabilities, their family-members, friends and those wishing
       to work with them to work.
2.    Put them to work in an inclusive workforce, not a closed workshop, with those
       without disabilities.
3.    Put them to work in a highly visible and desirable industry.
4.    Put them to work where the “product” they create, the programming or content
       will of itself be inclusive and instructive and serve as a means of advancing the
       community more effectively than if the product were a more typical consumer
       good.
5.    Put them to work creating, if not a definitive portrait of people with disabilities
       at least an alternative to the two most commonly seen in mass media,
       Super-Pity or Super-Cripple.
6.    Put them in a position on firmer ground to achieve all the individually and
       collectively desire by eliminating public misperceptions about the lifestyle of
       people with all disabilities.
7.    Establish a culture, a language, a group identity that will empower the individual
       and group to take an equal place in society and with its new found
       empowerment exercise

So the reason for the existence of [with]tv is to make money, to make money in a certain fashion with the full knowledge that our success will, we imagine, favorably change the overall ongoing quality of life for the global community of people with disabilities.

In the final outcome we may never change the minds of “others”. You cannot legislate morality or thought. You can to some extent change behavior. Assuredly if you really want to do something, then you do something. That is what I am doing. Having said that I have always felt and continue to believe that our existence will alter forever reality and perception.

So whenever someone from the “people without disability” community or someone from the “people with disability community” says why [with]tv I say the same thing always.

·    “There are 54,000,000 Americans with a disability."
·    Each one has at least one person committed to them personally and one
     professionally.
·    That makes a group of people in the community of people with disabilities
     162,000,000 in the US alone who are out there every day buying all kinds of
     products who share not a hobby, or an interest in an activity but a
     commitment to someone with a disability.
·    The community of people with disabilities is very well organized, but not united.
     They are organized around their particular disability, the cause of their disability,
     their needs for information, goods and services related to their disability or an
     issue stemming from their disability like employment, education, housing, social
     security, independent living, etc. They are organized at the local, state, regional,
     national and in many cases inter-national level. Additionally they have a variety
     of active bloggers, magazines, and not for profit web portals all organized
     around their individual interests. Fortunately for [with]tv, none of them are for
     profit and all of them crave access to the media so they can build their individual
     strengths and address their own issues. They will rally to us because will offer
     them what all individuals and groups want; to have attention paid to us and our
     issues addressed, our needs met and our voices heard. Our market has a build
     in support structure ready for us to access/
·    There are all kinds of local, regional, national and multi-national creators of
     product and advertisers of product that want to sell these 162.000,000 people
     and anyone else hanging around them all kinds of products.
·    There is no store in which these two groups can meet and access each other.
     There is no mass media voice anywhere in the world accommodating this group
·    [with]tv is that store and is that worldwide mass media voice.

In terms of those who have come before us and failed in our own “niche”, even though we are not a “niche”, channel and in terms of those of us who have come along outside of our “niche” and succeeded or failed we have much to learn from both sides of the success aisle.

In terms of whether we are or are not “just another start up TV channel” here is my position. We are and we are not. We are in that we are a start up lifestyle/niche/cable channel like BET, Oxygen, We, Lifetime, Retirement Living, etc. We are more than any other start up though because we are centered not on an interest or a hobby, but on a group of people disenfranchised from media and the marketplace that are large in size, with a large amount of disposable income who the rest of the world would like to empower.

That is why I chose the name [with]tv , because people with disabilities are “PEOPLE…WITH". We have more to offer than people without disabilities, hence the name with, from people with TV, talent, skill, etc, with a lot more than just a disability. The problem is perception and language. Comics and contrary thinking politicos can make all the disparaging comments they want about political correctness. That is not the issue here. The language issue is one of accuracy. That is why I do and always will refer to not the disabled, but to people with disabilities.  A disabled car will not work, will not perform, and will not function. People with a disability do have an inability to do something, true. That does not mean they do not have the desire to do that which they cannot, nor does it mean they automatically lack other abilities. We recognize and believe that ALL people, regardless of their disability, have something to offer society as valuable as anyone else’s contribution. Given the rapidly changing technology horizon it is obvious that [with]tv will be much more that just TV.

My position publicly and privately will be to not blame the industry for excluding us. I’m glad it did, because we can do it right now. My position on fellow channels, networks, entities, and their commitment to pwd if discussed at all is this: It is a rough world and businesses must do what they feel is right to take care of their business, employees, consumers, shareholders, etc. If they have fears and concerns they are well documented and grounded in society. I do not expect them to do something that other sectors of commerce are not doing. Why should they be singled out? That is why we are here as a business, to address a need. That is why businesses spring up from time to time; they see a need that exists, whatever the reason or the reason be damned.

Our portrayals, stories, news, information and all content will be held up by us as a creative take on a variety of issues and a certain perspective. We will never say, “You should be doing this and should have been doing in all along”. Nothing good for us will come of that. We are simply another creative production company with a unique perspective that we happen to feel is correct.
I am sure they might try and out bid us, they might start similar ventures and programs and do them faster and better. After all they are pretty big and pretty talented. If they do then I guess someone else will have successfully addressed the need but at least people’s lives will change for the better.

I need, as leader of [with]tv to surround myself with the brightest people I can and to have us all present and argue all perspectives so we can go forward to a lasting success. The DISABILITY FACTOR must be considered at all time and in all decisions indeed, for it is what gave us our mission.

Regarding being a Voice of Disability I can say that we have every intention of filling a void in terns of today’s market. We will do this in a number of ways not limited to the following.

·    We will be a mainstream mass media inclusive, accessible company
     producing and broadcasting content in a variety of formats.
·    We intend to be a leader in new technology development. We must
     since we need it most and when others do the advancing they often
     leave us out or think of us after all other constituencies have been
     satisfied.
·    We will create content that will include people with all variety of
     disabilities in the creation of the content at all levels and the
     perspectives of all segments within the community, while
     maintaining our own editorial independence.
·    We will address the marketing and sale of products from a variety
     of ways all intended to provide our community with value, choice,
     opportunity and solutions to all manner of current situations that
     our community find challenging and compelling. Our mission
     has always been to represent the perspective both group and
     individual of our community worldwide. Not many media concerns
     become the official or “acknowledged voice” of their community.
     If our viewers and our extended community come to see in this   
     regard we will be indeed fortunate. We have a number of fellow
     concerns in other branches of the media world with which to
     interact and we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship
     with all news and entertainment organs and advocacy organizations.
·    We will offer a media home where advertisers will seek to meet and
     address the consumer needs of our viewers.
·    We will employ significant numbers of people with disabilities,
     giving new hope and opportunity to young people with disabilities
     entering and graduating from college and others.
·    We will offer a constant platform for discussion and debate of all
     issues concerning our community today and tomorrow that will invite
     those outside to participate with us in the solutions.
·    We will offer a site to build community, to develop a new generation
     of leaders and celebrities in public affairs, education, entertainment,
     sports, and business.
·    We will do all of this and more with good humor, dignity, a strong
     business sense, no ill will toward our competitors, no enmity or malice
     in our hearts but with a fierce intention to succeed and to do so hugely.
     This success will benefit our community and those out of our community
     as well.

In terms of choosing our Perspective, ours is indeed as diverse a community as exists in all ways. We will always attempt to be fair and impartial editorial. Only when citizens are fully informed can they make informed choices and decisions. There will be room in our tent for all perspectives. My perspective and voice will lead the company. I do not view including or promoting any viewpoint that is condescending, patronizing or limiting as appropriate and to do so would be foolish, bad for business, counter-productive and against everything I have fought for during the past twenty-two years. Not all or even many in the community know me. I have fought and waged battles close to home for those close to my family and myself. I will take a back seat to no one however when it comes to inclusion, full access to one’s rights, freedom of choice, opportunity, independence, and self-advocacy.

The scope of our venture is laid out in our Business Plan. It is limitless in our industry and is one of a media company keeping pace with today’s rapidly changing technology while striving to become a leader and trend setter in not only quality, depth and breadth of content, but in technology advances as well.

In summary we cannot make everyone happy but we must strive to make everyone proud. We have to meet and exceed the expectations of our investors, business partners, employees, viewers, our stockholders and society at large. I understand and accept the responsibility.  If you will all help me we cannot and will not fail at [with]tv .

Sincerely,

Howard Renensland, Founder & CEO