My Jewish experience was challenging in college. Something I was once so passionate about and looked forward to on a weekly basis slowly started to become something I dreaded. Due to the nature of my disabilities, the traditional ways of doing Jewish activities and prayers didn’t work for me. To be more specific, Friday night [click to continue...]
Hi! It’s been a while since I have had the opportunity to write an article, but I know you’ve been seeing my name and email address a lot as we talk about opportunities to celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) with events featuring RespectAbility’s Disability Training & Speakers Bureau (DTSB). Recently, we have [click to continue...]
RespectAbility’s Disability Training and Speakers Bureau is a key tool in preparing your organization to create access for everyone whom you want to bring into your tent. As you begin to plan for Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), book one of our dynamite speakers to help your community be welcoming and inclusive of [click to continue...]
For those of us who have long waited to see people who proudly embrace their significant disabilities in positions of power, the fact that Israel’s energy minister, Karine Elharrar, is a power wheelchair user can easily lead one to believe that the arc of history is changing. And it probably is. Sadly, this week demonstrated [click to continue...]
Bizchut is excited to share a momentous achievement! For the first time workers in sheltered work environments have been granted the same social rights as any other employee! Such significant change for the rights of people with disabilities in the Israeli labor force is a rare event, especially when it concerns a particularly exploitive, discriminatory, [click to continue...]
Alex Howard is a speaker in RespectAbility’s Disability Training and Speakers Bureau. He is also an alumnus of both our National Leadership Program and our Summer Lab Program for Entertainment Professionals with Disabilities. As part of a job application, Alex was charged with writing a letter to himself before receiving his diagnosis of MePan. MePan [click to continue...]
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). As a regular reader of our Jewish Disability Perspectives newsletter, you know that RespectAbility has been training Fellows to work in the Jewish community and beyond since 2013. In honor of NDEAM, we’ve decided to celebrate some of the professional accomplishments and contributions of some of our [click to continue...]
Simchat Torah (which translates to Rejoicing with the Torah in English) is a Jewish holiday which occurs at the end of Sukkot. Filled with music, dancing and beautiful imagery, it is a time of celebration that includes reading the end of Deuteronomy, the beginning of Genesis, and dancing in seven traditional Hakafot (circular dances) each [click to continue...]
I had not been familiar with Sukkot growing up, as my family did not celebrate and we did not live anywhere near a Synagogue. So the first time I experienced Sukkot was during my undergraduate experience at Hillel. Our assistant director at the time had offered me the task of drawing the Etrog and Lulav [click to continue...]
Some of the fondest memories I have of Judaism growing up are going to the synagogue to help my father and other members of the community build the Sukkah. I got to spend time with my father and my friends while doing it. As I shared last year, with my disabilities, it took me a [click to continue...]
