ADVOCACY ALERT! Another Attack on Down syndrome!

September 10, 2006

Hello everyone

It was brought to my attention that another area of media has

attacked the Down syndrome community. As you know, just weeks ago,

we as a community were able to stop the insults of every person with

any form of Down syndrome by the Q92.5 radio station in Ohio, USA.

I call you to do this again! Bill Maher has an HBO (cable tv) show.

I am not very knowledgeable in Bill Maher's show, but by the looks

of the video, it is his job to insult people while he is on air.

During a recent show, he was insulting US President Bush and

referred to him as having " an extra chromosome " . Bill Maher was

making a point of President Bush's intelligence and that is why he

made this reference.

If you go to www.newsbusters. org/node/ 7505 you can read exactly

what he said and view the video.

Yes, he could have meant any other chromosomal abnormality, but that

is very unlikely. The majority of the population only knows about

Down syndrome and is unaware of the other chromosomal abnormalities.

Also, he was comparing this to his intelligence, so it is very

obvious that he meant Down syndrome. This is not about politics what-

so-ever! It is simply that we will not tolerate insults.

I suggest that we bombard HBO with calls Monday morning just as we

did in Ohio. Tell them that it is intolerable to make jokes about a

person with Down syndrome and that we expect a formal (on air)

apology immediately or we will begin calling advertisers.

Here is the information to reach HBO. Apparently, news busters has

now put up a video so you can see exactly what Bil Maher said.

You can reach HBO Consumer Affairs at 212-512-1208 between 9am and

5pm, Monday through Friday.

Or you can send a letter to:

HBO Consumer Affairs

1100 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036

Forward this message to all of your egroups and email lists.

Kristy Colvin

IMDSA President

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