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Former Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth was confirmed unanimously by the Senate April 22 for a post in the Obama administration as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.
Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq War who was injured when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, will be Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Duckworth lost her left leg and her right leg has since been amputated due to injuries she sustained in the attack.
After treatment for her injuries, she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the U.S. House and was later appointed director of the state veterans affairs department.
Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) lauded her in a statement issued shortly after her Senate confirmation.
"President Obama and America's veterans now have Tammy Duckworth as their advocate and champion," Durbin said in the written statement. "I know Tammy will bring the same level of commitment to the VA that she has shown in fighting for her country and representing Illinois veterans."
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From Chicago Breaking News:
