Program Teaches TV Production To The Disabled
  

SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2003

A local TV production house is making it possible for people with disabilities to share their talents with people around the world. NY1âs Jennifer Rainville introduces this weekâs ãNew Yorker of the Week.ä 

Ted Hinojosa always wanted to work in the television and film industry. 

ãI dreamed about going through life like that someday, you know, going from TV to film,ä he said. ãI want be this director, make this story up, and put it out there for the world to see.ä 

But with an anxiety disorder, Hinojosa never thought it was possible until he came to ConnecTV, a program that focuses on teaching people with disabilities about television production. 

It started when John Kaplan of DCTV or the Downtown Community TV Center, pushed for the program. 

ãIt's an effort to give the disabled community to have a voice in the media, where mainstream media doesn't give them a voice,ä Kaplan said. 

The program took off and students like Ted work to produce their own documentary segments. Chris Arnold has been the program director since ConnecTV's beginning. He works closely with each student and teaches them everything from shot composition to camera and sound operation to editing. 

ãWhat we're trying to do here is to make it possible for people with disabilities to speak for themselves,ä Arnold said. ãTo make their own TV, their own messages, and their own stories out there.ä 

The three-year program is totally free to the students. In their first year, they work together as a team and then in their second and third years, they branch out, working on individual projects to get their own message out to the public. 

ãThis gives me a chance to show that we have great ideas like anyone else,ä said Diana Naftal, a participant in the program, ãand that we can execute those ideas and execute them by ourselves.ä 

ConnecTV is trying to start up its website so the students can "talk" to other disabled people around the country, and eventually around the world. The students say that it's hard work but they all seem to agree that ConnecTV is a great opportunity. 

ãHaving this program says we're important,ä Naftal said. ãBy putting aside money and time for disabled people, it says, ÎHey, you're important too.ä 

And so for giving the disabled community a voice, all those at ConnecTV are NY1âs ãNew Yorkers of the Week.ä 

--Jennifer Rainville 


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