Interactive Event to Address Government Compliance with Section 508, Casey Martin Controversy and New PAC for Disabled, Enable America, Thursday, June 28, 2:30 PM EDT at www.AbleTV.net.

TVWorldwide.com’s AbleTV to Webcast “Able Gang” 
Discussion Program for Community of those with 
Disabilities  
Interactive Event to Address Government Compliance 
with Section 508, Casey Martin Controversy and New 
PAC for Disabled, Enable America, Thursday, June 28, 
2:30 PM EDT at www.AbleTV.net.  
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Contact:	info@tvworldwide.com                
TV Worldwide.com, Inc.             
www.tvworldwide.com               
(703) 961-9250, ext 221                            

Jeff Pledger 
able@abletv.net
www.abletv.net
(301) 890-5944
Chantilly, Va. – TVWorldwide.com announced today that 
it will again host “The Able Gang”, a live webcast on 
its AbleTV.net web-based TV channel for people with 
disabilities, where panelists with disabilities and 
others who work with the community will again discuss 
major issues affecting the 54 million Americans with 
disabilities. “The Able Gang” will focus on the new 
Section 508 requirements of Rehabilitation Act of 
1998 as amended, the controversy surrounding disabled 
golfing professional Casey Martin and the potential 
impact of a new political action committee for the 
community of those with disabilities, Enable America, 
set to launch shortly. 
	The panel will also discuss the recent New 
Freedom Initiative program launched by President Bush 
in February and his recent announcement concerning 
efforts surrounding this initiative to assist those 
with disabilities.  The program was to involve 
putting additional money into assistive technology 
development, the purchase of assistive technology 
equipment, provide more money for special education 
for disabled children and incentives for housing and 
better treatment for people with mental health 
problems. 
           The Section 508 issue has become 
particularly hot, in light of the recent June 25 
compliance deadline for government agencies to make 
their websites accessible. Some are looking at the 
Section 508 as a potential “Y2K” for government CIO’s 
trying to meet a myriad of requirements in making 
their agency web sites accessible.
 “Disability issues are national issues.  The lack of 
access to jobs, education, transportation, public 
buildings, dwellings, recreational facilities, 
Internet and assistive technology are a tremendous 
economic drain on the country. More devastating to 
the country is the loss of the abilities of millions 
of unemployed people with disabilities,” says John 
Williams one of the journalists on the panel. 
Williams writes Assistive Technology, a weekly column 
appearing Wednesdays on Business Week.Com under Daily 
Briefing. His award-winning column is credited with 
raising disability issues to a national awareness in 
the media and among politicians, government policy 
makers, employers, consumers and educators.  
                “We have a great opportunity to offer 
employers and disabled participants an accessible 
worldwide forum to discuss critical issues 
challenging the country,” which has adverse 
implications for the Americans with Disabilities 
Act, “said Jeff Pledger, President of AbleTV.net. 
Pledger, who is blind, and one of the panelists. 
                   “This show works to inform and 
build consensus among people with disabilities to 
take action, and that’s why we continue to produce 
similar programs in an ongoing web series that  takes 
on these issues from a proactive perspective,” 
commented Dave Gardy, CEO of TVWorldwide.com who will 
again be the moderator.
“We are pleased to provide captioned streaming for 
this live event, just like we’ve done for all our 
live and archived events, “ remarked Pledger. “ The 
disability community is always excited about the 
voice they have in this program.”
     “ We have picked experienced, knowledgeable and 
respected individuals in this field to discuss issues 
of national importance,” said Gardy. 
The live event, “The Able Gang” is slated for 2:30 PM 
EDT, Thursday June 28, from the Internet TV studios 
of TVWorldwide.com.
                       The webcast will feature 
AbleTV.net’s captioned video streaming 
or “webcapting” process to aid those with 
disabilities in participating via chat, e-mail and 
phone.
                       The program will be archived 
with the captioning for later viewing after the 
webcast at the same event site link. Participants 
should have the free Real Player installed prior to 
the event on the 28th. Questions can be directed to 
info@tvworldwide.com before and during the event or 
viewers can call 703-961-9250, ext. 223.

About TVWorldwide.com and AbleTV.net
A full-service video streaming application service 
provider, TVWorldwide.com is currently working with a 
clients and strategic partners on the latest in live 
and archived state-of-the-art video streaming content 
applications.
            The TVWorldwide.com network is an 
affiliation of community-based Internet TV channels, 
each underwritten by a strategic 
partner, “aimcasting” to targeted b2b and 
professional special interest audiences worldwide. 
TVWorldwide.com has worked with one of its first 
aimcast channels, AbleTV.net, to pioneer live and 
archived video streaming with closed captioning and 
audio description to aid in web site accessibility 
for the disabled. With this advance, AbleTV.net 
received its charter sponsorship from Microsoft 
Corporation.

Received on Wednesday, 27 June 2001 14:56:38 UTC