Faith Inclusion

Passover is coming up soon, and depending on whether or not you and your family have been vaccinated, you might be able to safely celebrate in person this year. It’s important to remember that it’s easy to hold festivities where all guests — with and without disabilities — feel welcomed, respected and have fun. But it takes some extra thought. For example, children with learning disabilities generally do not want to be called on to read the part of the “Simple Child” at the Seder. If you are celebrating online, our Virtual Events toolkit is for you! If you are celebrating in person, here are some tips to ensure your gatherings are inclusive, thoughtful and welcoming to all. [continue reading…]

How do we create inclusive Jewish classrooms? At Jewish Learning Venture, our Whole Community Inclusion initiative approaches inclusion holistically, engaging all stakeholders including the educators, the families, clergy and synagogue leaders and of course, the students themselves. We’ve implemented a number of successful programs to support inclusion, including: [continue reading…]

Carol Gould

I am honoured that Jennifer Mizrahi has asked me to write from Great Britain, where I have lived as an expatriate American for forty-five years, about being Jewish and battling stage 4 breast and lymph node cancer during Covid. I am delighted to share some of my story with you. In a future installment, I will examine the ‘dynamic’ of being disabled, fighting cancer and secular Jewish generosity in the COVID-dominated world. [continue reading…]

Adam Bronstone, Director of Planning, Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee shares below about Nashville’s Webinar of Webinars. You can find the webinars to which Adam refers at www.respectability.org/jewish-events.

As the pandemic forced every community to pivot to online activities and meetings, the leadership of the Inclusion Committee of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee decided to pause its activities, believing that in-person meetings would be more beneficial that virtual meetings. Once everyone realized that the pandemic was going to be with us for a long time, the committee decided that it would be important to re-establish the inclusion committee and as a community. [continue reading…]

February is one of my favorites months of the year, as it is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month (JDAAIM). I am so excited that the first Shabbat in JDAAIM is Parshat Yitro (Torah Portion Jethro). [continue reading…]

It has been said that “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” The COVID pandemic has certainly posed tremendous vocational challenges for people with disabilities, who, despite already experiencing an employment rate less than half of people without disabilities, experienced 40% greater job loss with minimal recovery. It has also provided unprecedented opportunities—to develop skills, to continue working from home and in person (for those who currently have jobs) and to think creatively about new opportunities.

Many people with disabilities and organizations working with them have responded swiftly and creatively. Participants and families in our National Ramah Tikvah Network vocational training programs, located in our 10 Ramah camps in the US and Canada, expressed concerns about social isolation and job skills.  In response, we swiftly created TikvahNET, a vocational training and socialization program. [continue reading…]

Before we share some exciting news, we wanted to say something about the events of the past week in Washington, D.C. The violence we witnessed on Capitol Hill was awful, unacceptable and profoundly painful. What we saw happen should never have happened and should never happen again. We also know that people might be facing mental health challenges because of these events. Please reach out if you need help. The suicide hotline is free, friendly and there for you. Call 800-273-8255.

RespectAbility is excited to announce that we will be partnering with The Jewish Federations of North America’s Jewish Disability Advocacy Month. We will be hosting three Networking & Community Building Workshops. JDAM will be a month of education, solidarity-building, and empowerment of people with disabilities. We will be coming together to break down barriers to opportunity and inclusion for and with people with disabilities. [continue reading…]

It was June of 1969. I was an 11 ½ year old visually impaired girl leaving home for the first time to attend Jewish overnight camp. I boarded the train to Wisconsin consumed with mixed emotions: already a little homesick and anxious, but also excited. I was excited about the friends coming from my Jewish Day school, and the new friends I hope to meet. At that moment, I was just like them—leaving home to spend three fun-filled weeks at summer camp.

It was a disaster. [continue reading…]

Hilla Hadas

My name is Doctor Hilla Hadas, and I am the CEO of Enosh – The Israeli Mental Health Association. As organizations throughout the world are figuring out how to accomplish their missions in this time of COVID-19, I am pleased to talk about how we did this at Enosh, and how we worked to serve the changing mental health needs of our service users.

Enosh promotes the recovery, social inclusion, and rights of people with psychosocial disabilities and their families in Israel. Enosh is the largest mental health organization in Israel with 70 service centers that deliver comprehensive and groundbreaking community based mental health programs in the domains of housing, employment, social recreation, and family counseling. Enosh programs are based on the Recovery Model principles, which upholds functional disability; i.e., patients can lead a meaningful life in the community, despite persistent symptoms, and discover new abilities and interests. We also work to reduce the self-inflicted stigma and the societal stigma towards people with mental illness and their family members. [continue reading…]