MICA SCOOP

My name is Ann Marie aka Jade. I am a film producer ; align with the world of entrepreneurship and the entertainment industry. I have a disability: a hearing loss. However, please do not be fooled: My disability does not define me. I happened to love music. I came from a family of music lovers. One day, while producing a film in the fall of 2001, I invented and designed a vibration-generating device model (music vest) so one can feel the music or sound. I’ve appeared on the popular hit show, ABC’s American Inventor (Season 2) June 2007. The show discontinued. I advanced to the top 3 finalists for New York. Million and million consumers with technology made available for them can download music from all kind of sources from the Internet for their iPods, mobile phones, PDAs or computers, and can appreciate and relate to music of all kinds. What about us, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing folks? There are various degrees of hearing losses. [We need a standard product to appreciate

SHOWBIZ EXPO DISCRIMINATES! Showbiz Expo is a great public event for people of all demographics and backgrounds in the entertainment world, striving to enhance oneself - whether for professional or personal advancement, find jobs, meet people, exchange or collect ideas or new developments, or simply looking for the latest trades or information. When citizens like myself and others signed up for Showbiz Expo to attend workshops and shows floor , the first thing that comes to mind is: Accessibility. We'd contact them and request to be accommodated for the workshops we wanted to attend that we paid for. It's that simple. We didn't think we'd have to fight. Largely, because I've attended Showbiz Expo in Los Angeles TWICE in the late 1990's and TWICE in NY. They have provided accommodations for me without a hassle. The initiate request for accommodation was placed by telephone two weeks before the event. A week later, a couple of followups by email. Therefore, Sho