This proposal proposes hiring teens with disabilities to create a disabled teen e-zine on the internet. This goal conforms to the requirements of topic three by offering job development, job opportunities and transition from school to work for disabled teenagers. The target population of this proposal is disabled teenagers from the ages of 14 to 19 years old. The content and themes of the e-zine will be determined a staff of fifteen disabled teenagers. They will also be responsible for hosting the associated chat room and for interfacing with the web designer to develop a fully accessible e-zine format. Marketing and sales staff will seek out and secure advertisers for the e-zine, thereby ensuring salaries and continued publication. A project manager and a web designer will be available to consult with the staff to assist them in determining appropriate lay-outs of the e-zine, timely articles and interesting columns. Disabled teenagers have been fairly ignored on the internet, although there are a few sites. This e-zine will add to resources and enable the disabled teens to develop an on-line community to offer support, education and entertainment to one another. Summary of Anticipated Results and Implications: Results of this proposal include an increased presence on the internet of teens with disabilities. Disabled teens will gain job experience and continue this job in the future if they so choose and if their revenues allow. Proper supervision and enthusiasm and genuine hard work by the disabled teen e-zine staff will ensure success for them, the e-zine, and future disabled teens that take their places or come in as interns to learn about journalism. It is anticipated that this e-zine will meet with great enthusiasm among disabled teens and parent groups with a subscription rate up to a thousand by the end of the second year, monitored utilizing a traffic counter at the web site. The teens will create a supportive educational site from their efforts. Ancillary products will be developed and be sold using e-commerce at the site. These products will be very popular and will help support the teen e-zine in the future. Aggressive advertising will increase the revenues of DC @CTIVE TEEN once subscriptions are sold. Implications of this proposal are monumental. Disabled teens will look to their future vocational opportunities with eagerness and become motivated to use their skills and talents in highly creative endeavors. Instead of applying for benefits following graduation, these disabled teens will be applying for college and jobs. The columnists at DC @CTIVE TEEN may branch out to mainstream magazines through submitting some of their articles for publication. This proposal will open the vistas to the benefits of the Internet for people with disabilities. The obstacles that create barriers for disabled people in mainstream society are non-existent over the world wide web as the government expends more funds into education about accessible web sites. Societal barriers will no longer interfere with the success of disabled teen entrepreneurs. The readers will benefit as well from the information presented in the DC @CTIVE TEEN, on the message board and in the forums held in the chat room. They will also have opportunities to form lasting supportive relationships with their peer's in the chat room. Commercial applications of this project include increased business activity on the web that would offer more job opportunities to people with disabilities who might otherwise be unable to work. The e-zine will eventually be supported through subscription rates and advertisers, The success of this project would encourage the development of other group specific disability e-zines such as, a disabled woman's e-zine, disabled men e-zine, young adults with disabilities e--zine, and e-zines for families with a disabled member. As computer and technology companies become more aware of the presence of people with disabilities on the internet, they will formulate approaches to get more computers to disabled people at prices that are affordable and payment plans that are realistic. This program will alert the government to the necessity for programs outside of the mainstream school programs for disabled teenagers. It will be a guide to future grant funding areas for the government to encourage. The success of this type of program would help disabled teens to gain vocational experience for future jobs rather than collect federal benefits throughout their lives. This will help people with disabilities contribute their skills and talents to society and empower them to dream of possible vocations. The success of America's disabled teens will benefit the federal government, freeing up funds to funnel into other helpful programs. Ancillary products will be developed and sold at Disability Central . They will include DC @CTIVE TEEN logo crutch bags, wheelchair backpacks, mouse pads, and College Disabled Student Services as well as Recreation & Entertainment Directories will be compiled from the information that the Education, Recreation and Entertainment writers and Project Director have researched.
