Honoring Women with Disabilities During Women’s History Month

Salma Hayek

Actress and producer Salma Hayek Jiménez has embraced her disability – dyslexia – from a very young age. Born in Mexico, Hayek was sent to a Catholic boarding school in New Orleans at the age of 12 where she was quickly expelled for setting all of the nun’s clocks back three hours.

“I’m very lucky I didn’t have it easy, because I’ve learned so much from having to figure out everything on my own and create things for myself,” said Hayek. “Now I can teach what I’ve learned to the next generation.”

After boarding school, Hayek spent time at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City; however, she quit to pursue her acting career and left Mexico for Hollywood. [continue reading…]

Honoring Women with Disabilities During Women’s History Month

Lois Curtis

People with disabilities can thank Lois Curtis for paving the way for them to live in the community while receiving the services they need.

In what many called “the most important decision for people with disabilities in history,” the Olmstead Decision justified the right for people with disabilities to live independently but would take four years to come in effect including being heard in the Supreme Court.

At the center of the 1999 lawsuit that cited a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 were Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, two women with mental and intellectual disabilities. They were held in Georgia Regional Hospital for years after their treatment team determined they were able to live in the community because the state did not want to give them the funds they needed to live independently.

While she was growing up, Curtis was diagnosed with intellectual and mental disabilities. As a result, she would get into trouble constantly – at home and at school. The police were called several times and they would take her to jail or to a mental hospital. [continue reading…]

Judaism taught me that we are all created in the image of God; the disability rights movement has taught me what this means.  This statement from Rabbi Ruti Regan, an Autistic Conservative Rabbi, has become a personal mantra that defines why disability inclusion is critical to us as a community. At the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, our mission is to inspire, build, and sustain vibrant Jewish life in a changing world by mobilizing our community in common purpose, intentional innovation, and effective action. Advancing inclusion is one way we give this mission meaning.

Guided by the work of Dr. Arielle Silverman, social scientist and creator of Disability Wisdom, I have begun to appreciate the stages that we go through on the journey to advance disability inclusion. This journey marks the transformation from antipathy to passive exclusion to helping as a form of chessed (charity).  It involves a growing understanding of individual accommodations and the fundamental right to be included. The somewhat allusive end of this journey is a paradigm shift where inclusion becomes something seamlessly embedded into society.

Our actions place us at various stages on the inclusion journey. When we fail to consider who is missing from the communal table or proactively budget to provide accommodations, we slip into passive exclusion.  When we reach out to help others, we begin to acknowledge that the image of God is in each of us. This is a complicated journey with steps forward and backwards. Inclusion is not a checklist to complete and move on.  As we listen to each other, we discover changing needs that require ongoing introspection and innovation.  Advancing this social justice movement requires thoughtful reflection and community leadership.

As we learn from disability advocates within our community, we begin understanding the ramifications of ableism, start to challenge the status quo and look for innovative ways to create change. Central agencies, like The Jewish Federation, provide an active space for the discussions and collaborations that enable us to improve our community.  At Federation, the Disability Inclusion Network is an open forum dedicated to exploring complex issues with disability self-advocates, community members, and agency professionals. This year, we have had the pleasure of learning from activists like Judy Heumann, Arielle Silverman and Aaron Kaufman.

Convening and collaborating is also the focus of the Federation’s Disability Inclusion Synagogue and Employment Working groups. The former inspires participants to recognize where they are in their inclusion journey and identify steps to advance inclusion. The latter helps businesses address their needs by employing individuals with disabilities. The employment group also organizes the annual Road to Independence: A Resource Fair for Young Adults with Disabilities and their Families, which is free and open to the public, and takes place this month on Sunday, March 31st, 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington (https://shalomdc.org/resourcefair). Additional initiatives to combat stigma include Youth Mental Health First Aid Training and the Ambassador of Inclusion educational curriculum. Resources for advancing inclusion and listings for upcoming events can be found on Federation’s Disability and Inclusion webpage (https://www.shalomdc.org/disabilitiesandinclusion).

Advancing disability inclusion is a journey based on Jewish values that encourages us to care for each other and create good in the world.  Being inclusive makes our community more open, connected, and vibrant. We can all agree on the value of being inclusive. By working together, we can mean it.

Lisa Handelman is the Community Disabilities Inclusion Specialist at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. As a community resource and area specialist, Lisa partners with individuals with disabilities, families, and community lay and professional leaders to develop, implement, and monitor opportunities for inclusion of individuals with disabilities into all aspects of Jewish learning and living. Lisa has worked in Jewish education and inclusion for over 20 years, including leadership roles at the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, SULAM, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School and Capital Camps & Retreat Center, where she designed and has led the nationally recognized inclusion-based program for the past 15 summers.

In our weekly Shabbat Smiles, RespectAbility welcomes a wide spectrum of voices. The views expressed in each Shabbat Smile are those of the guest contributor.

The Shabbat Smile is curated and edited by Debbie Fink, RespectAbility’s Director of Community Outreach and Impact and Vivian Bass, RespectAbility Executive Committee Board Member.

Honoring Women with Disabilities During Women’s History Month

Simone Biles

Simone Biles is known widely as the Olympic champion who dominated the sport of gymnastics during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Biles has won four consecutive all around titles and is the first female to do so since the 1970’s. She also has competed and won 14 world championship medals.

At a young age, Biles was diagnosed with Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Confidential medical records were revealed to the public around the time she was competing in the 2016 Olympics. Since being vocal regarding her ADHD, many have classified her as a hero, especially those who have endured stigma from the disability. She has taken to Twitter vocalizing her disability and what she has been doing to treat her ADHD.

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Washington, D.C., March 13 – As we celebrate Women’s History Month, RespectAbility recognizes the contributions made and the important presence of women to the United States. It is important to note this includes more than 20.9 million women living with a disability in the U.S., more than 10.2 million of which are working-age (18-64). Therefore, we would like to reflect on the realities and challenges that continue to shape the lives of women with disabilities.

Only 34.6 percent of working-age women with disabilities (3.5 million) are employed in the U.S. compared to 82.5 percent of working-age women without disabilities. This is in line with the rest of the country. With fully one-in-four American adults having a disability, just 37 percent of those who are working-age are employed, despite polls showing that most of them want to work. This leads to approximately 22.6 percent of women with disabilities living in poverty compared to 14.7 percent of women without disabilities. [continue reading…]

Honoring Women with Disabilities During Women’s History Month

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is known as one of the most influential leaders of our nation. She was a former slave turned abolitionist who bravely risked her life to free both slaves and her own family members through the underground railroad.

Tubman was a Maryland native. She was born around 1820 in Dorchester, County, Md. Her mission was getting as many men, women and children out of bondage into freedom.

When Tubman was a teenager, she acquired a traumatic brain injury when a slave owner struck her in the head. This resulted in her developing epileptic seizures and hypersomnia. Unfortunately, Tubman’s experience of violence occurred on a daily basis which made her brain injury worse.

“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land,” she often is quoted as saying. [continue reading…]

Honoring Women with Disabilities During Women’s History Month

Cristina Sanz

Fans of the hit A&E docu-series Born this Way know Cristina Sanz as a lovable, fun and family-oriented dancer and romantic. In 2016, Sanz became the first Hispanic woman with a disability as part of an ensemble cast to be on an Emmy award-winning show. In 2018, she shattered stigmas by getting married to her longtime fiancé Angel Callahan.

The two already had been dating for five years before the show premiered. Their desire to live an independent life together – and get married – was a consistent plot line throughout the show. The first season ended with their engagement; the fourth season finale was an hour-long episode featuring the wedding between these two individuals with developmental disabilities.

“I wanted to show everyone that you can have a disability and get married,” Sanz told People magazine.

Her wedding, moving out on her own and working at two jobs, are things her parents never imagined as Cristina was growing up.

“I will not wake up waiting for my daughter to come back from a date like my mother did for me,” her mother, Beatriz Sanz, said she used to think. But, Sanz was the first of her siblings to get married. [continue reading…]

Cori Ashkenazy

Cori Ashkenazy was only two-and-a-half-years-old when he and his family made Aliyah, making Israel their new home. But it was only after their arrival to Israel that his parents became aware that their son was “different” than other kids his age: after a battery of tests and evaluations, Cori was diagnosed with autism.

Undiscouraged, Cori’s family invested boundless energy and means to facilitate and support his development and personal advancement. He met regularly with a speech therapist and physiotherapist, who assigned him daily drills and activities to strengthen his hypotonic muscles. To aid in his physical development, any time a new form of therapy was “discovered” or announced, Cori was immediately there to try it, including horseback riding therapy. Overtime, with dedication and patience, Cori overcame his hypotonia.

The joy of conquering and overcoming hypotonia was one thing, but it was the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) draft letter—the same every 17 or 18-year-old Israeli teenager receives—that really sparked Cori’s excitement. On the morning of his induction and draft into the IDF, Cori’s joy turned into disappointment: the recruiting officer monotonously told him and his parents that Cori was exempt from military service due to his autism. [continue reading…]

Honoring Women with Disabilities During Women’s History Month

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, a Mexican woman who had multiple disabilities including polio as a child and spinal and pelvis damage from a car accident, became a world-renowned self-portrait painter. She has since served as a role model for generations of artists, people with disabilities and bisexual women.

At the age of six, Kahlo was bedridden with polio. The polio virus caused damage to her right leg and foot. She was left with a limp. Her father thought that playing soccer, wrestling and swimming would help her recover.

As a teenager, she was in a car accident. A steel handrail was impaled into her hip and came out the other side. Her spine and pelvis were damaged significantly. While in recovery, she began to paint. [continue reading…]