1983. In some ways it was just another year that passed all too quickly. But for folks with disabilities keeping an eye on "the tube" some very interesting things began to happen.

CBS was broadcasting promotions for its new season. One showed a paraplegic wheelchair racer. Another showed a deaf couple signing, "I love you, I love you, too." People with disabilities in TV promotions! It was something we had never seen before!

Oddly enough, some of the greatest media advances have come in television commercials, the most conservative of all the entertainment-industry fields. Following CBS's 1983 season came TV commercials showing wheelchair users in Levi's jeans, children with disabilities clapping away in McDonald's, we've seen employees in wheelchairs in Wal-Mart commercials and in ads for cars and many other products.

Before the mid-80's many product sponsors feared the presence of individuals with visible handicaps would alienate consumers from their products. Now, all that's changed. Not only are people with disabilities used in commercials, it's become almost commonplace. And that's the great thing about it. People with disabilities showcased for what they are ... kids who go to McDonald's just like other kids, adults with disabilities who work at the local store and shop for their cars just like anyone else would. Normalcy... people with disabilities being just "regular folks".

There are still many media barriers that need breaking down. And that's where people with disabilities need to make sure their voices are heard. As an anchorwoman, who also happens to be paraplegic, I have the insider/outsider view on how the media portray people with disabilities.

Perhaps the area that could use some extra attention to detail is the vocabulary of disability. I know the reporters at WIS try to be very thoughtful when it comes to portraying the hardships and barriers faced by citizens who are disabled. But unless the person being interviewed speaks up and offers suggestions for appropriate ways to describe people with disabilities, the reporter may never know she or he has described someone in a way that may make the person with the disability feel uncomfortable.

I know when stories have been done about me, I cringe a little when the TV or newspaper reporter says I'm "confined" to a wheelchair or "wheelchair bound". Sure I have to use a wheelchair, but my wheelchair is my mobility, my liberation, my freedom to do my job, to go to the grocery store or library... to be just "regular folks". The words "bound" and "confined"... sound just that: bound and confined! That's not me, and that's not most people with disabilities I know. I'd think to myself too late, "Why didn't I suggest to the reporter that I prefer to think of myself not as "wheelchair bound or confined" but as a person who uses a wheelchair as a result of an automobile accident.

Actually, that's in keeping with Associated Press Guidelines prepared for media professionals. They are invaluable to anyone who speaks, writes, or thinks about people with disabilities.

A few examples from the guidelines are:

1. Do not focus on a disability unless it is crucial to a story.
2. Do not portray people with disabilities who succeed as superhuman. Even though the public tends to admire super achievers, portraying people with disabilities as superstars raises false expectations that all people with disabilities should achieve at this level.
3. Do not sensationalize a disability by saying afflicted with, crippled with, suffers from, victim of, and so on. Instead, say person who has multiple sclerosis, man who had (or contracted) polio.
4. Do not label people as part of a disability group, such as the retarded. Instead, say people with mental retardation.
5. Put people first, not their disability. Say woman with arthritis, children who are deaf, people with disabilities. This puts the focus on the individual, not on a particular functional limitation.

These are just a few examples that the person who has a disability can suggest as a preferable way of being "described" if they're the subject of a TV story or newspaper article. Most reporters will probably welcome suggestions: they want to be not only accurate, but sensitive as well.

If you object to the way a person with a disability is portrayed in the media, let that TV station or magazine or newspaper know about it! A thoughtful letter, e-mail or phone call will have a much bigger impact than a hasty or angry one.

It will take a long time to break down all the stereotypes that surround people with disabilities and guess who has to do most of the work? You guessed it.... people with disabilities.