Past Events

Hosted by Bay Area Friendship Circle and RespectAbility

Friendship Circle and RespectAbility hosted a fireside chat about mental fitness with motivational speaker Jennifer Fink. Ms. Fink is an accomplished social entrepreneur and management consultant whose passion lies in promoting behavioral and community health. Due to an accident and illness in her mid-20s, Ms. Fink lives with nonvisible disabilities, anxiety, and depression. A captivating and relatable storyteller, Ms. Fink weaves humor and grace as she embraces and shares her story, wisdom, and lessons learned from her life post-illness, trauma, and accident.

A zoom presentation on how to make Save A Child’s Heart programs and events more accessible for all

Read transcript
Download accessible PowerPoint [continue reading…]

Read transcript

On February 23, 2021, Rabbi Darby Leigh spoke at the Center for Jewish Education’s ASL Meet Up to celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.

Presented by the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit’s Opening the Doors Program and RespectAbility’s National Disability Speakers Bureau

Read transcript

Moderated by Mitchell S. Parker, PhD, psychologist

Speaker Bios

Jennifer Fink is a social entrepreneur and management consultant whose passion lies in promoting behavioral and community health to empower individuals learning to cope with mental health challenges. Due to an accident and illness in her mid-20s, Ms. Fink lives with nonvisible disabilities, anxiety, and depression. Fink had founded a nonprofit and co-authored a children’s book supporting military children. She collaborated with the Obama White House’s Joining Forces Initiative, and due to Fink’s finesse, former First Lady Michelle Obama filmed a video for a USO Asia-Pacific Tour that Fink co-led. A captivating and relatable storyteller, she weaves humor and grace as she embraces and shares her story, wisdom, and lessons learned from her journey.

Dr. Arielle Silverman has been both Jewish and blind since birth. She has worked with Jewish camps, congregations, and other organizations to help build a culture of inclusion. Dr. Silverman has also studied and conducted research on the psychology of disability. She speaks on the tensions between her intersecting disabled and Jewish identities; simple principles for fostering inclusion across ability lines; and learning to correct our own biases toward people who are different.

Read transcript

RespectAbility Communications Fellow and 2020 Lab alumni Ava Rigelhaupt speaks about autism and Judaism for Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month 2021 at Congregation Har Shalom.

Read transcript

For Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month 2021, Lauren Appelbaum, Vice President of Communications at RespectAbility, spoke about her work.

Read transcript

Shelly Christensen from RespectAbility’s Speakers Bureau spoke about disability inclusion at the Reform Temple of Rockland for JDAM 2021.

JFNA partnered with RespectAbility to host a series of convenings for all of us who are passionate about the advocacy agenda of the JDAM sessions. We gathered informally on Zoom for facilitated discussions, sharing strategies, learning from each other, and planning action steps so that together we can pursue disability justice and inclusion for all. Each session was broken up into facilitated networking groups with questions designed both to introduce people to each other and find opportunities for commonality and collaboration. Each attendee attended 2 25 minute sessions. Each event concluded with the opportunity to engage JFNA’s JDAM calls to action, by virtually reaching out to your elected officials.

Week 1

Thursday, February 4 at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT
Topics: Owning Our Passion, Finding Our Fight and Building a Culture of Belonging.

Week 2

Thursday, February 11 at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT
Topics: Addressing Mental Health Challenges and Isolation, Disability in Israel, and Empowering Youth with Disabilities and Their Families.

Week 3

Thursday, February 18 at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT
Topics: Advocacy and Civic Engagement on Disability Issues.

Read the transcript

A special evening celebrating Jewish diversity through storytelling and music. [continue reading…]