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...]
I hope that everyone had a lovely Rosh Hashanah, and especially that you were able to find the access that you needed. In fact, if you had an access experience, positive or negative, RespectAbility would love to hear about it. For those still looking for an accessible experience for next week, we have made some [click to continue...]
As we approach Yom Kippur, I’ve been reflecting on the fact that I have never been able to fast due to my varying health conditions. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that Yom Kippur will never be a “traditional” day of atonement for me, in the sense of fasting, but that doesn’t [click to continue...]
Every year on Yom Kippur, the most solemn Jewish holiday, “sin” and “repentance” are the key words stuck in my head. But for someone who is already experiencing depression and/or other mental illness, these themes can be extremely upsetting and even harmful to think about. For people like me who live with depression, especially when [click to continue...]
Shabbat shalom and shana tova from RespectAbility! We hope you have a great year ahead and enjoy the animation above, created by former Jewish Inclusion Fellow Ben Rosloff. He is the force behind the disability film series “What Do You Pray For?” At our website, you can find a list of accessible high holiday services. [click to continue...]
Rosh Hashanah marks a fresh start, and is supposed to be a joyous day! And it is, for the most part, until I’m awkwardly sitting at dinner among my friends and family who are passing challah and engaged in conversations. For probably 6 going on 7 years, I’ve been gluten-free. Before that, I have fond [click to continue...]
