ADVOCACY ALERT! Another attack on Down syndrome!

September 11, 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 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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