{"id":4803,"date":"2014-09-04T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T19:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2014-09-04T14:04:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T19:04:05","slug":"karen-meyer-retiring-as-abc-7-disabilities-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/09\/04\/karen-meyer-retiring-as-abc-7-disabilities-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"Karen Meyer retiring as ABC 7 disabilities advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Karen<\/a>

<\/a> Karen Meyer<\/p><\/div>\n

Karen Meyer may be irreplaceable, but WLS-Channel 7 <\/a>hopes to carry on her mission.<\/p>\n

After more than two decades as a unique presence in all of local television, Meyer announced Thursday she\u2019s retiring from the ABC-owned station to spend full-time in Southern California with her husband. Her last day on air will be September 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to have been able to report on issues pertaining to people with disabilities for 23 years,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cI want to thank ABC 7 for their incredible support, people with disabilities for sharing their stories, as well as ABC 7 viewers and co-workers who have always been there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Graves, vice president and news director of ABC 7, said the station would continue to cover stories focusing on the disabled community, with news anchor Hosea Sanders and special projects producer Sylvia Jones teaming up on a weekly report. But Meyer\u2019s part-time staff position won\u2019t be filled.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaren Meyer has never met a challenge she couldn\u2019t handle,\u201d Graves said in a statement. \u201cShe has worked tirelessly at ABC 7 to shed light on issues pertaining to people with disabilities \u2013 reporting stories often ignored by other media outlets. . . . I cannot thank Karen enough for that commitment. She will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deaf since birth, Meyer, 60, joined ABC 7 in 1991 \u2014 one year after the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. She was president of a consulting firm specializing in disability issues and directed the Office of Students with Disabilities at DePaul University, where she taught from 2003 until earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Meyer had no TV news ambitions before she was approached by former ABC 7 general manager Joe Ahern. \u201cI met him while I was working for United Cerebral Palsy Association doing Americans with Disabilities Act consulting work and followed up with a letter offering to train the staff in understanding the disability community,\u201d she told the Chicago Tribune <\/a>in a 2011 interview. \u201cHe accepted, and I came to speak at one of his breakfast meetings. I gave a whole presentation on how the ADA was changing workplace rules and how there needed to be more coverage because it was going to be a hot topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo months later the former news director and former general manager said we like your idea, here's a job. My first reaction was, \u2018Wait a minute, I am not a journalist, I have a speech impediment and if I put the ear piece in I won't be able to hear anything.\u2019 They said as long as you know the stories, we will figure everything else out, so I said OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her reports on ABC 7\u2019s weekend morning newscasts Meyer has received numerous honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award <\/a>from the Chicago Headline Club last May.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of Graves\u2019 memo to the staff:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have news this morning to share with you regarding Karen Meyer.\u00a0 After 23 years here at ABC 7, Karen has decided to retire.<\/em><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say enough good things about Karen.\u00a0 She has truly blazed a trail, overcoming obstacles to report on issues most television stations ignore. We should all be proud of her body of work.\u00a0 Karen has been honored many times for that work, most recently in May when she received a Lifetime Achievement from the Chicago Headline Club. She\u2019s also won an Emmy Award and garnered honors from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the National Rehabilitation Association and Easter Seals, among others. In 2012, Karen was selected as one of the Chicago Tribune\u2019s \u201cRemarkable Women\u201d and Today\u2019s Chicago Woman magazine recognized Karen as \u201cOne of the 100 Women Who are Making a Difference in Chicago.\u201d Again, so much to be proud of!<\/em><\/p>\n

As many of you know, Karen has been splitting her time between Chicago and Southern California, where her husband Michael and her beloved dogs have been living for the past few years.\u00a0 After her last day on the air, Sunday, September 28, she\u2019ll be heading west to join Michael and enjoy the Palm Springs sunshine and time on the tennis court!<\/em><\/p>\n

After Karen\u2019s retirement, we\u2019ll continue to air stories focusing on issues important to the disabled community. Hosea Sanders and Sylvia Jones are teaming up to produce a weekly report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s all thank Karen for her contributions and wish her the best as she enters this new chapter in her life!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Meyer may be irreplaceable, but WLS-Channel 7 hopes to carry on her mission. After more than two decades as a unique presence in all of local television, Meyer announced Thursday she\u2019s retiring from the ABC-owned station to spend full-time in Southern California with her husband. Her last day on air will be September 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4807,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4803\/revisions\/4807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}