This week’s Shabbat Smile is written by Adam Fishbein, a self-advocate and RespectAbility Fellow. My religious school experience at Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park, PA had its ups and downs. As a child with multiple disabilities that made it difficult, and often disruptive, for me to function in a classroom environment, my parents initially [click to continue...]
In a few days, I’ll be at a graduation—not an unusual event for this time of year, but this graduation will be unique. It’ll be the culmination of a year of intense learning and internship experiences for six young adults from across the state of Maryland, all of whom have developmental and/or other disabilities. They’ll [click to continue...]
For my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples. Isaiah 56:7 The great disability rights advocate, Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, z’l’ said, “We don’t welcome people with disabilities because they have disabilities. We welcome them because they are people.” Becoming a house of prayer for all peoples involves much more than an open [click to continue...]
This week’s Shabbat Smile is by Rachel Kunstadt, a mental health advocate and self-advocate in NYC. Her presentation at our Empowerment Training for Jewish Women with Disabilities – entitled “Choosing Life!” – included a musical performance of a song she co-wrote, addressing her agoraphobia. This past January, I became a Bat Mitzvah for the second time. Or [click to continue...]
Israel has a lot to celebrate – and we can and should take the time to kvell. A big part of the success is how Israel leads the world on several key innovations when it comes to disability. I know that you’ve likely seen ReWalk, the exoskeleton that enables people who are paralyzed to “walk”. But [click to continue...]
A new Israeli study finds that negative views on aging are often passed down in families of Holocaust survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings, published in the Journals of Gerontology: Series B, show that Holocaust survivors with PTSD view themselves as aging less successfully compared to survivors without PTSD as well as to older [click to continue...]
Moses – Moshe Rabeinu – lived with a disability. The Sages recount that as an infant and prince in Egypt, the future hero of the Passover story had a choice to take either gold or hot coal. The Egyptians were testing the baby; had he taken the gold, he would have been considered a threat to Pharaoh. [click to continue...]
Our Shabbat Smile is early this week, so you can have time to: consider making some easy, last minute, inclusive changes if you are hosting a seder; or respectfully engage the host, with suggestions for easy, last minute, inclusive changes. This piece on Seder inclusion was written by Dov Hirth, ALEH’s Coordinator of Marketing, Development and Special [click to continue...]
Ayala’s eyes darted around the screen, choosing words and pictures as her teacher asked her rapid-fire questions. Ayala, 11, has a cognitive disability that prevents her from speaking. But she can communicate thanks to a screen that reads her eye movements and transmits answers to questions. “Do you want to go to the bathroom? Say [click to continue...]
At Beit Issie Shapiro, joy is present every day – this is our protest to a world that views disability through the lens of helplessness and suffering. Beit Issie Shapiro, tucked away in Ra’anana, Israel, is a leading pioneer of innovative therapies and services to improve the lives of people with disabilities, impacting on almost [click to continue...]
