Four Kids Who Spend Their Lives in Wheelchairs Go Zero-G on Nick News With Linda Ellerbee: The View From My Chair Premiering Nov. 16 on Nickelodeon

Four Kids Who Spend Their Lives in Wheelchairs Go Zero-G on Nick News With Linda Ellerbee: The View From My Chair Premiering Nov. 16 on Nickelodeon

**High Res Art and Screeners Available Upon Request

NEW YORK, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- There are kids all around the world who, for one physical reason or another, will live much of their lives in wheelchairs. What is it like to be them? What do you think it would be like for you? Four extraordinary kids invite us into their world and their lives, asking us to really see the "view from my chair," and then, along with Emmy Award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee, they go on a Zero-Gravity flight in which they achieve weightlessness, on Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: The View From My Chair, premiering Sunday, Nov. 16, at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081110/NY44923 )

"A friend of mine who has used a wheelchair for many years reminded me that the problem is not the chair -- it's gravity. So we thought it might be fun to go on an adventure where we could leave gravity behind," said Ellerbee."

Juan, from Tampa, Fla., who has muscular dystrophy, says of his life, "When I first started to be in the chair ... people started staring at me. I started to feel kind of weird and I said, 'Why are they staring at me?' But I've never been ashamed of being in a wheelchair."

Nia, from Bridgeport, Conn., who's in a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury suffered in a car accident when she was four-years-old, has a love-hate relationship with her chair. "My chair is both my friend and my enemy. It is one, my friend because it's helping me get around and it helps me do things; and two, it is my enemy because it just like taunts me there saying, 'Ha ha, you can't stand.'" She added, "I do believe that there is going to be a cure for me, and if there's not, then there really is a reason why I'm in this chair and I'm just gonna live my life in this chair."

Chase, from Smyrna, Tenn., who has Cerebral Palsy, says, "I go bowling, I go out to eat, I go to the movies, I go to the mall. I can get around as much as regular people can get around, just in a different way ... Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to walk, when people say they pray for me, and I think about going to heaven and being able to walk."

Wensday, from Dover, Arkansas, who was diagnosed with Spina Bifida, says, "I'm the only kid in my school that's in a wheelchair, and when there's a new student at my school, I always try to talk to them so that way they don't jump to conclusions before they can really think about what's wrong with me. And then they see me with my friends and they see, 'Oh, she's regular.'"

Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is now in its 18th year, and is the longest-running kids' news show in television history. It has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. Over the years, Nick News has received more than 20 Emmy nominations and numerous Emmy wins, including this year, when "The Untouchable Kids of India" won the 2008 Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. Last year, "Private Worlds: Kids and Autism" won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1994, the entire series, Nick News, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1998, "What Are You Staring At?" a program about kids with physical disabilities, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2002, "Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan," won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2004, two Nick News Specials, "The Courage to Live: Kids, South Africa and AIDS" and "There's No Place Like Home," a special about homeless kids in America, were both nominated for the Outstanding Children's Programming Emmy. In 2005, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming for its show, "From the Holocaust to the Sudan." Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is also the recipient of three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for her coverage for kids of the President Clinton investigation. The series has also received two Columbia duPont Awards and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards.

Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 14 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Photo: Newscom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081110/NY44923
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN11
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Jodi Davis, +1-212-846-5981, Jodi.Davis@nick.com, or Rebecca
Boswell, +1-212-846-8914, Rebecca.Boswell@nick.com, both of Nickelodeon

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