 | | Working on a Worldly Perspective
Mike Pegg | by Jim Beasley ike Pegg is not the typical 23 year old. He has an unusual perspective on the world’s news, and he’s willing to share it with others. His desire to share information about disabilities led to the creation of the International Disability News Ticker http://www.abilityinfo.com/ticker.html. The ticker is a source of "breaking news stories from the disability field of work and study."
Pegg was raised on a farm in rural Ontario, Canada. Most of his high school summers were spent at an Easter Seals camp near London, Ontario, which led him to become involved in the developmental services field. Although he has Attention Deficit Disorder, he doesn’t consider ADD to be a true disability. "ADD in my world basically means that I get distracted easily," he says. "I gear into many projects or tasks at the same time and have a lot on the go. It allows me to enjoy life to the fullest."
Pegg earned his degree in the Development Services Worker program at Georgian College in Orillia, Ontario. His course of study opened his eyes to the need to share important information on disabilities. "I learned that the world's understanding and care for people with disabilities is very regional. We do not seem to share our ideas and concepts outside our states, provinces or small countries."
It was during this time in school that he established abilityinfo http://www.abilityinfo.com/books/, an online bookstore for information concerning various disabilities, and the news ticker. Currently, Pegg works for the Internet services division of a Toronto telecommunications company. But it is his news service and online bookstore which remain the broadest avenues for using his training in the field of disabilities.
On an ongoing basis, Pegg scans the day’s headlines for news stories concerning specific disabilities or persons with disabilities. "It takes me about 30 minutes to do a full site update," says Pegg, "and I have the time to read the stories I'm posting and learn more at the same time."
The site currently covers news from a dozen countries. The number of countries, he says, is completely dependent upon those countries which have web-based news media, so that the ticker can link to it.
Although most journalists distance themselves from events on which they report, Pegg finds that certain stories can have a deeply personal impact. "A personal friend of mine, Jesse Davidson, from London, Ontario, has Muscular Dystrophy. Her father walked across Canada to raise money for Jesse. I understood the importance of his walk and felt good by covering the news updates as he walked across the country. It felt like my personal contribution to expose his cause.
"It is a very gratifying experience to think about the hundreds of people worldwide that benefit from the abilityinfo news ticker. I imagine sometimes that a disability policy within a government somewhere is being created out of a story that has been read from the ticker; or someone has a new theory of care based on something that they have read from my site. I feel very proud of the service and hope people continue to
benefit from it."
Pegg also has plans to expand the site in the future, enlarging the employment section as well as providing a search capability for job listings supporting persons with disabilities. This growth could eventually lead to the use of additional volunteers to keep the site current and create useful links. He also intends to expand the categories of book titles, and create a more expansive magazines and journals section.
"My vision is to continue to provide a valuable resource for people from around the world seeking disability information and news," says Pegg. "Eventually, I would like to provide a virtual outpost for professionals and students to converse. Perhaps this could take the shape of video conferences, voice conference calls, interactive idea sharing and news—or whatever technology decides to bring us as the Internet evolves."
Contact Mike Pegg by email: mpegg@primus.ca | |
