A JEWISH WEEK SUPPLEMENT - NOW ONLINE
Thursday, 25 February 2015
Dear reader,
February is Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month, an international effort to raise awareness and advance the conversation on disability and inclusion in the Jewish community. Throughout the month, our popular blog 'The New Normal' will share insights from the disability community. Please join in the conversation. Add your comments here or follow the conversation on our Facebook & Twitter.
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer
Editor, The New Normal
Funding Day Schools In Philly His Way
Gary Rosenblatt
A 'divisive community builder' sounds like a contradiction in terms.
Meet David Magerman.
Gary Rosenblatt
Funding Day Schools In Philly His Way
A ‘divisive community builder’ sounds like a contradiction in terms. Meet David Magerman.
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor And Publisher
Gary Rosenblatt
David Magerman, a man on a mission to build and sustain a vibrant Orthodox community in Philadelphia, is a tangle of contradictions.
A wealthy hedge fund manager, he finds the consumer-driven life pointless and in the last decade has embraced Orthodox Judaism with great passion.
He insists that the Jewish day school system is broken and that lack of quality education, not money, is the root problem. But he is spending $10 million to $15 million a year to address it through his Kohelet Foundation, dedicated to “generate and support Jewish communal responsibility for day schools.” (Since 2009, Magerman has donated about $60 million to Jewish charitable causes, much of it through his foundation.)
He says he is committed to collaboration in his quest to build and sustain Torah-based schools in his community. But he is criticized for being bossy, abrasive and unwilling to compromise. And though he is by far the biggest donor to Jewish education in the Philadelphia area, he has a strained relationship with many of the leaders of the local Jewish federation because of what is perceived to be his aggressive, my-way-or-the-highway style.
In 2008, two years after Magerman and his family moved from Long Island to Philadelphia in his search for a sustainable observant community, he partnered with the federation to create a “Megafund” to bolster support for local Jewish day schools suffering from the recession. But he grew frustrated with the slow pace and bureaucracy, and soon created Kohelet, which at once supports day schools in the region — “whether or not I agree with their approach,” he points out — and is also at odds with them at times.
With it all, Magerman, 46, has made remarkable progress in re-inventing traditional Jewish life in the Lower Merion area of suburban Philadelphia, viewing his approach as a national model for strengthening a Jewish community. He is single-handedly attracting observant and potentially observant Jews by not only donating generously to every Jewish day school in the area and founding an experimental Yeshiva Lab School, but also by establishing and operating two kosher restaurants — one meat and one dairy — in the neighborhood.
“It’s a holistic approach to improve the quality of Jewish life,” he told me during an interview at The Jewish Week the other day. “I want to make Orthodoxy and the Torah-observant life a positive choice, not a sacrifice for people but something exciting, appealing. So you try to create a community with good Jewish schools, spiritual shuls and good places to eat.”
His method seems to be working. In the last several years the Orthodox population in Lower Merion is believed to have grown significantly, and there are at least four new Orthodox synagogues.
Now, Magerman is about to launch a major national initiative recognizing the creative work of Jewish educators, part of his overall strategy to improve the quality of Jewish day schools. His new Kohelet Prize for excellence in progressive Jewish education, he told The Jewish Week, will offer a $36,000 unrestricted cash prize each year to “up to five educators, or teams of educators, who demonstrate extraordinary accomplishments” in one of five areas: interdisciplinary integration (integrating multiple disciplines in a single multi-week unit, preferably incorporating Judaic and general studies); real-world learning (helping students break down the barriers between school and the world around them); creating an innovative physical learning environment (in use by students for a minimum of six months); differentiated instruction (for a diverse student body within a single-class environment); development of critical and/or creative thinking and risk taking and failure (for a failed project or initiative in any of the five categories above that was developed and fully implemented in a classroom).
Holly Cohen, executive director of the Kohelet Foundation since its founding in 2009, explained that the goal of the prize is to recognize the achievements of individual teachers and groups of teachers around the country.
“We want to awaken the field and to show there are people out there doing innovative work.”
Cohen said a website for the prize is being developed to serve as “a clearing house of ideas” for educators everywhere and to inspire them.
The contest will be launched in early May, with the first round of winners scheduled to be announced at Chanukah time at a two-day Kohelet Foundation conference in Philadelphia.
The prize is the outgrowth of a years-long search by Magerman for models of progressive education that can be applied to Jewish day schools, whose system he describes as “broken.” He modeled his new Yeshiva Lab School on the work of AltSchool, a California-based group of small schools that feature mixed-age classrooms and a “rigorously personalized approach that “develops skills to encourage lifelong learning and success.”
Yeshiva Lab School opened in Philadelphia last fall with a kindergarten and will add a grade each year through eighth grade. (It will soon be competing for enrollment with a Modern Orthodox school that also extends through eighth grade.)
Raised as a Conservative Jew in Miami, Magerman essentially gave up observance while attending the University of Pennsylvania. But after a trip to Israel he was motivated in 2004 to enroll in a weekly, Torah-study-by-phone program run by Partners In Torah, a one-to-one Orthodox initiative developed by Torah Umesorah. He stuck with it for seven years and came to see Torah as the bedrock of Jewish survival.
He said he is seeking to convince more families that a Torah education is a prerequisite to a meaningful Jewish life.
With a background in artificial intelligence, Magerman describes himself as “a systems guy” who tries to figure out ways to make things work, fitting the missing pieces together. Along the way in his attempt to “fix” the day-school dilemma — where tuition costs often exceed academic success — he has, admittedly, butted heads with lay and professional leaders in the Jewish community, whom he has publicly criticized for insufficient support of day schools.
“I wanted to have a direct impact,” he said, on projects he supported, and he became frustrated “when I couldn’t push my ideas.”
Mentioning the name “Magerman” in the Philadelphia Jewish community can evoke eye-rolls. There is often an acknowledgment that he is investing more in Jewish life there than anyone. But that doesn’t necessarily prompt expressions of praise and gratitude.
Magerman shrugs off the criticism.
He says he is working on his interpersonal skills, noting that he has come to realize that dealing with people is more complicated than working with computers. “I’m learning,” he said, when asked about getting along with others. “I make an effort to bring in stakeholders.” He said he has “a chevrah [group] of friends and families who want the things I want” in terms of educational objectives. “I try to achieve my goals without disenfranchising others. It’s a balancing act. No one likes change, but it’s necessary. And people appreciate it when it’s over.”
Magerman said the most important lesson he has learned is that “you have to respect the mission of the organization you support, and my goal is to find ones that overlap with my mission.”
Magerman is well aware that only a small percentage of American Jews value day school enough to enroll their children. But he is committed to providing Jewish day-school education not only to his own four children but also to the next generation.
“It’s a Torah-values crisis,” he said. “The community has to see it as an imperative. I am using the money I’ve earned with God’s help to do these outsize things. If we can improve the quality, we can make a difference.”
Gary@jewishweek.org---------------------
Why Labels Matter
The New Normal
'Special Needs,' 'Inclusion,' 'Disability,' Or None Of The Above?
The New Normal
'Special Needs,' 'Inclusion,' 'Disability' Or None Of The Above? Why Labels Matter
Rabbi Daniel Grossman
"Label Jars Not People." Courtesy of Jay Wilson
The Language Of Prayer
I've often thought about the question of the terms we use such as “Special Needs,” “Inclusion,” or “Disability,” and which words are best to open lines of communication? I do not have any hearing in my right ear. I also have a noticeable facial discoloration on parts of my right face that leads some people to think that I have had a stroke, and, over the years, I have used several orthotic devices and sometimes a cane for balance.
From childhood on, I have been called a wide range of descriptive names — many of them were insulting or worse. I have many unpleasant memories of these encounters: “Monster-Boot-Boy,” “Dog-Face,” “Half-Deaf-Kid,” “Limpy,” “Gimpy,” and quite a few others I would never repeat.
When I began as a rabbi for the deaf community, I began to think again about language. I wondered what words I would use within the college community of NTID — National Technical Institute for the Deaf. That was more than 35 years ago.
Over time, I have heard all of the “new, friendly, labels.” From the various common phrases like “differently abled,” or in my case, “hard of hearing.” I never got used to that phrase. It is not hard for me to hear. On one side I hear perfectly well. On the other side, hearing is impossible. It is what it is, but it has never been hard or easy.
In those days, I began something different and I continue to use the same format today. “What’s your name and if you use a descriptive adjective, what do you prefer?” I think it is condescending to choose a descriptive adjective without asking someone what their choice is. It is their life.
If I am writing or speaking to a diverse group and I cannot ask everyone at once what their preferences are, I will describe the issues at hand but never label any individual or group. I never assume to know another person’s choice of identity without asking them.
When you begin by asking what someone prefers and choose for their own identity, you send a message. “It matters to me what you think, and you have the right to your OWN identity.” Each individual is deserving of the self-identity they choose, and, no one has the right to label anyone.
When you choose your own identity, the name or word you choose is no longer a label, but rather a description of how you want to be perceived. In this way, everyone benefits. You are more than a label, and everyone starts on the same footing of respect and openness.
What’s in a Name? EVERYTHING.
Rabbi Daniel T. Grossman led Adath Israel Congregation in Lawrenceville, New Jersey for 25 years. He is a graduate of Temple University, Hebrew University, Merkaz HaRav Kook in Jerusalem and the Reconstructionist Rabbincal College. Rabbi Grossman also works in the field of Jewish Special Education and co-wrote and participated in the video “Someone is Listening,” the story of a young deaf Jew and his search for fulfillment as a Jewish adult. He is fluent in several sign languages.
Editor's Note: February is Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month, an international effort to raise awareness (#JDAIM16 on twitter). "The New Normal" will share blogs posts all month long about the language we use when we talk about disability. Please comment here or on our Facebook page — share with your community and join the conversation!---------------------
Headline: Decision 2016: Disability Scorecards
The New Normal
Exclusive interview with Jennifer Laslzo Mizrahi, President of RespectAbilityUSA, while she's on the campaign trail advocating for people with disabilities and answered our questions via email.
The New Normal
Decision 2016: Disability Scorecards
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer
The RespectAbility Report. Courtesy of Jennifer Laslzo Mizrahi
Editor's Note: As the primary season begins, we bring you this exclusive interview with Jennifer Laslzo Mizrahi, President of RespectAbilityUSA, an important organization working on disability rights. Jennifer is on the campaign trail advocating for people with disabilities and answered our questions via email.
NN: Can you describe RespectAbilityUSA's mission in terms of inclusion in the Jewish community and why following the presidential race is connected to your mission?
JLM: Our work is all about improving the lives of people with disabilities. There is a big role for Jewish institutions in that work, and we are deeply committed to Jewish inclusion. But ultimately the disability agenda is a civil rights agenda and an anti-poverty agenda. And it’s far bigger than just the Jewish community. And the only way to move those agendas is to ensure that it is on the “to do list” of the next president of the United States. We want our issues to be center stage in the first 100 days of the next president's first term, and beyond.
President Obama has done a lot of good things for people with disabilities. But sadly, we are not even close to the top of his agenda. Nor were we for President George W. Bush. Indeed, in the first seven years that President Obama has been in office, he has rarely even uttered the word “disability.”
What isn’t in campaign promises and isn’t in the State of the Union generally doesn’t get done. Fully 1 in 5 Americans has a disability, but we haven’t really even been in the State of the Union.
Only 2 percent of America is Jewish, but as we are very active in politics there has been a permanent Jewish Liaison at the White House throughout this administration. Indeed, there was one in President George W. Bush’s Administration as well. However, even though there are at least eight times more people with disabilities in America than there are Jews, the White House only got a full-time permanent disability liaison (as opposed to someone on detail temporarily) fairly recently.
While there are a lot of Jews who work in leadership positions at the White House, how many people with disabilities can you name in the White House senior staff or in the cabinet? Other than Maria Town, the new and terrific disability liaison, can you name any?
Good news is that the White House is now looking to hire someone to work on accommodations for people with disabilities on their team. That’s terrific — but it’s also happening when there is less than a year left on President Obama’s watch. I want our community to be a top priority from day one of the next president’s term in office.
NN: You recently released a presidential scorecard and Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders emerge as leaders in disability policy. Were you surprised with the scorecards?
JLM: Each of them did a fantastic job in laying out many of the issues. They have very different approaches. Not surprisingly, former Gov. Jeb Bush looks more at partnering with state and local government along with the private and nonprofit sector to create opportunities. Sen. Bernie Sanders looks more at expanding the social safety net. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks more at early interventions, education and a pathway to employment and independence. Their plans very much reflect who they are as people, and their philosophies of governing. I highly recommend that all the readers actually read the full scorecards of each of these candidates.
Our scorecard is actually much harder for candidates to complete than those of many other groups. That’s because we ask for an actual plan on a number of issues, as opposed to just simple yes/no question. Most groups have a scorecard that simply asks if a candidate is for or against x/y/z legislation. Are they for or against a particular gun/abortion/environmental bill, for example. That is not what we are about. First, we don’t lobby. And second, the disability community is still at the stage where we need to educate smart candidates about our issues so they can first think about solutions, and then bring together different stakeholders to come up with better ideas and implementations of solutions.
Sadly, today our government is spending a fortune on programs for people with disabilities that are failing. In too many cases, American taxpayers are funding putting people in big institutions and in sheltered workshops, despite the fact that community living and competitive integrated employment is better and less expensive. We are using prisons as a substitute for a successful mental health system. People with disabilities are being discouraged from getting jobs because of a failed system of entitlements that punishes people who want to work.
Progress will take getting different government agencies to break out of their silos and play nicely together in the sandbox. They will need to innovate and take risks. Those are not things that government is very good at. So our scorecard required candidates and their teams to take a lot of time to think about big challenges and how they might address them. The silver bullet isn’t one magic bill them to pass. It’s to start a national conversation that starts with the fact that people with disabilities are deserve to have the same rights and opportunities to succeed as anyone else.
The thoughtfulness that Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Jeb Bush are putting into these issues is very significant. Still, they have more to learn, and there are more questions others can ask. But many of the candidates have not yet really engaged with the process at all. We are still waiting to get candidate questionnaires back, for example, from Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasisch and Donald Trump. This is very, very important to achieve.
Bottom line, only one of the candidates running will be the next president of the United States. But even those who lose will still play very important roles in America. Some will continue to serve as governors or senators. Others may be Fox News commentators and authors who contribute to the national conversation on our issues. We want them all to care about our issues and to be educated about them.
NN: How does national policy on disability relate to what is happening on a state level?
JLM: Fully 70 percent of adults with disabilities aren’t working, despite the fact that studies show that most want to work. This is a national disgrace. It hurts employers who are missing out on great talent, taxpayers who are paying for a broken system, and people with disabilities who want to work.
Approximately 1 in 2 American adults with disabilities live in poverty, based on market income (Total income before tax minus income from government sources) while nearly 1 in 3 live in poverty based on disposable income (i.e. when counting income cash benefits like SSDI and SSI).
There is a new law, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It was completely bipartisan and signed into law by President Obama. It has the potential to be fantastic. But where the rubber meets the road is at the state level. Governors and workforce boards and agencies get to create their own state plans for investing the $17 billion a year that follows WIOA. If they use the same failed practices of the past, no progress will be made. Jewish vocational programs, anti-poverty programs and social justice programs need to pay big attention to WIOA.
Right now every state is going through a process where they legally have to post a copy of their draft WIOA plan on the internet. By law they must invite and accept comments from the public. We have already read the plans for 12 of the states and submitted comments for each of them. Fully 38 more to go. All of these plans are an improvement from what they were doing before. But none of them yet is at a level that it will achieve the hopes and dreams of the new law. Anyone reading this who wants to check in on what is going on in their state and how they can make a difference should email me at Jenniferm@RespectAbiltyUSA.org.
NN: Disability issues got attention on the political front when Donald Trump made fun of a New York Times Reporter's disability. Why aren't these issues in more of the conversations — in the debates and beyond?
JLM: When we as a community do more to show up at campaign forums and ask questions, the candidates and reporters will be there for us. But we have to do our part. So far I see far too few people with disabilities at campaign events. While our group is not partisan and will not endorse candidates, I hope that others in our community will get behind the candidates who really care and will do good things if elected.
Part of the process is getting the candidates to make their events and materials fully accessible. Until recently this was not on campaign “to do lists." Nor were captions on videos, ASL at events and more. We are working to change all that. Candidates are much better at that. We are covering the candidates very closely and I invite your readers to see our coverage at www.TheRespectAbilityReport.com.---------------------
Blogging Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month - #JDAIMblogs
The New Normal
Blogging Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month - #JDAIMblogs
Lisa Friedman
#JDAIM16 Blogs. Courtesy of Lisa Friedman
Editor's Note: Next week begins Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month--a time when the Jewish community puts extra focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities. At "The New Normal," we know that this is a 365-day effort and appreciate all of our readers and contributors giving attention to this issue. We are sharing this blog from contributor Lisa Friedman and will be featuring a series of blogs about disability and language through the month.
For those of you who have been following this event for a few years or more, you will note that the acronym has changed. Since 2009, Jewish Disability Awareness Month has taken place each February with the tagline “From Awareness to Inclusion”. In keeping with that trend, the various organizers of this annual event have added “I” for inclusion right into the title: Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.
In honor of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) I am launching the third annual JDAIMblogs. It is an opportunity for us to collectively shed light on the wonderfully inclusive things that are happening in our Jewish world.
Here’s how to join JDAIMblogs: Tag each blog post you write with JDAIMblogs. Use the hashtag #JDAIMblogs on Twitter and Facebook. Tweet me (@JewishSpecialEd) and tag me (Lisa Goldblatt Friedman) on Facebook so that I can help to promote as many of these posts as possible. Come back to this blog on February 1 where I will include a place to link various other blogs and articles. This will allow readers to find one another’s posts, spread the word about their own and generally serve as an online gathering space for the JDAIM blogging efforts. Feel free to come back often and link each of your #JDAIMblogs posts.
But really, there are no rules. Use the prompts in the image above, or simply write about Jewish disability inclusion in any way you choose. You can blog daily, if you want; but you can also draw, share photos or even a make a video. You don’t have to be an inclusion expert or a Jewish professional to contribute. In fact, I hope that parents, loved ones and self-advocates will participate. You don’t even have to be Jewish! EVERY voice matters. Isn’t that the point of inclusion, after all? All you really need is a desire to contribute in some way. Blog once or blog every day. Tweet. Share a Facebook status. Share your voice.
Lisa Friedman is widely recognized in the field of Jewish Special Education. She is currently an Education Director at Temple Beth-El in Central New Jersey, where she has developed and oversees an inclusive synagogue school. She is also the Manager of Social Media and Alumni Networks for Matan. Lisa consults with Jewish organizations to guide them in the development of inclusive practices for staff, clergy, and families through dialogue, interactive workshops and awareness training. Lisa is a sought after speaker on a wide variety of topics for professionals, lay leaders, teachers, parents and teens and blogs about disabilities and inclusion at Removing the Stumbling Block. You can follow Lisa on Twitter @JewishSpecialEd.
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#JDAIM16: Disability And Language
The New Normal
#JDAIM16: Disability And Language
Steven Eidelman
Steven Eidelman
Editor's Note: February is Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month, an international effort to raise awareness (#JDAIM16 on twitter). "The New Normal" will share blogs all month long about the language we use when we talk about disability. Please comment here or on our Facebook page — share with your community and join the conversation!
Does it really matter what we call people? Is terminology and language use important? By now you may think you have heard too much about person-first language, or at least the intent which is to emphasize the person and not the label. This works for most groups, although increasingly those who are autistic, or at least organizations representing them, seem to prefer the term "autistics" over "people with autism" (Read more about that debate here).
So what does it really matter?
Labels and diagnostic criteria are, in the U.S., vital for inclusion in most publicly funded programs and in many cases, those that are private. We need to know who you are to see if you can get what we have. While this is not true in some other countries, categorical eligibility is the norm in the U.S. We bemoan the fact, but it is real.
I tend to think of the issue more along the lines of respect — respect for the person, for his or her humanity and dignity, rather than categorization. Our life experiences and the isolation of many people with disabilities forces us into this categorization by fostering a "they are different, they are the other" way of thinking, a we-they, us-them dichotomy.
Some of this may go away as people are more included in our communities. I recently had an undergraduate student say to me: "She is just like me! She has a boyfriend, likes to go to the movies and to go shopping!” A wonderful observation by 21-year-old, and a sad statement that up to the experience she referenced, she had never interacted in a meaningful way with a person (with an intellectual disability) up to that point.
It would be easy to blame my student but I must say: It’s not her fault! We, all of us, never set up the situations where people with and without disabilities were together for regular activities, so of course, she never saw “them." Or got to know “them.” They were in that class down the hall, on that “special bus,” in a “special” camp. Definitely “they” were not like me. Hence the need to label them, to use language that separates and differentiates them from me.
As Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month begins, let’s be conscious of language. Are our words and terms meant to respect and include people or to show that people are different, apart and in need of “special” programs and places to be? Does language force us to have people with disabilities in that separate Jewish Day School program, or excluded from the school? Do we have an Inclusion Shabbat service one week in the year and then forget that many people want to be there regularly, at holidays and on days that are not holidays?
Can we get rid of the barriers between those with and without disabilities entirely by change language? Of course not but it is a good place to start and, to borrow from Rabbi Hillel in Pirkei Avot who asks "If Not Now, when?" Jewish Disability Awareness Month is as good a place to start as anyplace.
Steven Eidelman is the H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Human Services Policy and Leadership at The University of Delaware and the faculty director of The National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities. He has worked for the last 35 years to help people with disabilities lead full lives in the community.Read More
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"Special Needs" And Relational Inequality
The New Normal
"Special Needs" And Relational Inequality
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks
This is the second blog advocating against the term “special needs” that I’ve posted on the New Normal blog. I’m writing a second article on this subject because I’m speaking on behalf of the majority of disability activists who agree that this term actually defeats our cause. I will take every opportunity to discourage its use until it’s no longer part of our vocabulary, because “special needs” separates us out from the mainstream (special) and it reinforces the charity model (needs) against which the disability community has been struggling for many decades.
If any person, without proof of some sort of impairment or medical condition, could claim that she or he has special needs and request extra time on exams or subsidized tutoring, go to the front of the line at Disney World, or receive customized seating at work just by asking, there would likely be little objection to the term “special needs.” In this case, anyone could claim to have special needs in any given situation. However, using the phrase “special needs” is problematic when it is actually a code word for “disability.” It creates “relational inequality” between people with disabilities and people not yet considered disabled.
My husband, Yisroel Lacks, LCSW-R, coined the phrase “relational inequality” based upon the transactional analysis model of psychotherapy, “… wherein each social transaction is analyzed to determine the involved ego state (whether parent-like, child-like, or adult-like) as a basis for understanding behavior.” For example, the relationship between two adults is ideally adult-to-adult and between children, child to child. We can occasionally choose to seek nurturance from a friend or a spouse (child-to-parent) but, in general, adults relate as adults, and children as children on equal, give and take, and cooperative terms.
Once we attach the word “need” to an individual or population, the relationship between individuals or populations is altered. We are no longer describing a characteristic such as gender, race, or disability. Instead we are describing a state of being — the state of being in need. Infants or young children are understood to be needy and vulnerable. Adults, who are understood to be wiser and more capable, take care of children’s needs and determine what is best. Similarly, adults or children with “special needs,” or worse “special needs adults or children,” on some level are considered to be needy or vulnerable, akin to young children who need care and oversight. People with disabilities want to and should be related to as decision makers and contributors; not people in need of help, support services, guidance, or direction.
Special needs terminology is insidiously poisonous. It seems innocuous, but it corrodes and undermines the very strides for dignity, respect, and equality for which disability activists have crawled up the U.S. Capitol steps, effected the longest Federal agency sit-in in American history, and undergone arrests for civil disobedience at bus stations, legislative offices, and university campuses. We, the disability community, advocate for access and opportunity up until this very day with strength, leadership and determination as a social-political body; as people who have or are perceived as having the characteristic of disability. We are discriminated against because of our disabilities — our physiognomic or physiological compositions that affect function, behavior, or social interaction — and the accompanying misguided belief that we place undue burden upon society. By referring to “special needs populations” we are reinforcing the charity model of disability based upon anticipated neediness (placing us in a child-like role), the cause of much prejudice.
Let’s proudly own and teach our children to proudly own disability as a characteristic and a demographic that deserves respect and recognition for what we contribute.
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks, Founding Executive Director of Yad HaChazakah – The Jewish Disability Empowerment Center, Inc., envisions Jewish communities where people with obvious or hidden disabilities are sought and valued for the strengths they bring. In her vision, leaders and community members will want to improve physical, communication, and attitudinal access to shuls, yeshivas, batei midrash, workplaces, shops, and family life — not only for the benefit to specific individuals, but also for the enrichment of entire communities. She has worked in the disability policy and human services arenas for over 25 years.Read More
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The Language Of Prayer
The New Normal
The Language Of Prayer
Shelly Christensen
Visual icon for Jewish prayer. Courtesy of Gateways: Access To Jewish Education
Synagogues are opening the doors to participation by people with disabilities in large numbers. New buildings and remodeling projects follow the requirements provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Many synagogues have greeters stationed at the doors to welcome people and direct newcomers to coat rooms, washrooms and the sanctuary. Trained ushers know where assistive listening devices are located and can seat people who use wheelchairs with their family and friends.
This is the eighth time we've recognized Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month! Yes, our communities and our institutions have come a long way. But the glaring truth is that we've only just begun to develop person-centered approaches that support individuals to achieve the quality Jewish lives that they direct themselves.
One of the glaring gaps to surface over the past eight years is how so many people with disabilities are not able to enter into the sacred act of prayer. True, in some synagogues prayer is conducted in English. There are many people, with and without disabilities, who make synagogue membership decisions based on the prevailing language of prayer. But in congregations where Hebrew is the sacred language of prayer, how can people with disabilities, who’ve either never been instructed in Hebrew or who have never experienced the familiarity that comes with frequency, pray? Finding ways to help people with disabilities who haven't belonged to a shul or learned Hebrew is another way that congregations can support meaningful participation.
Granted, prayer is a personal and private conversation wtih God that can be held in any language. But when the congregation is davening in Hebrew, people can feel distanced and isolated. It is much like traveling in a foreign country and not knowing the language. One can observe what is happening, but the essence and the nuance of that language is missing.
Our goal for inclusion is to provide support for people to participate in the ways that are important to them. Prayer is an essential point of entry for many people with disabilities into Jewish living. By recognizing that some people come to our shuls without the knowledge of the prevailing language of prayer, we support them in a number of ways.
Here are just a few:
1. You can sit with someone and guide them through the prayerbook by turning the pages, pointing to transliteration, and even (quietly) explaining the prayers.
2. If your synagogue has a prayer book Hebrew class, extend invitations to people who may be new or who may not know that you offer such a class.
3. Offer a class on the liturgy, explaining the order of prayers and what they mean.
4. Pair people up as davening buddies at services. In addition to increasing familiarity with the prayers, people will begin to form relationships around this sacred act.
5. All of us acquire stronger skills with frequency. Encourage people with disabilities to attend services regularly.
Communal prayer is the foundation of synagogue life. Providing pathways for people with disabilities to pray with understanding opens doors to a richer Jewish life.
Shelly Christensen, MA FAAIDD, is the co-founder of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month. Shelly literally wrote the book on inclusion, Jewish Community Guide to Inclusion of People with Disabilities. She is on the faculty of the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Leadership Institute on Disabilities and Inclusion, and is on the Ruderman Chabad Inclusion Initiative core team. Shelly is a frequent speaker and consults with Jewish and other faith communities. She and her husband have three sons, one of whom lives with Asperger syndrome, two grandsons and a Deaf Sheltie named Penina. Reach her at Shelly@inclusioninnovations.com.Read More
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The Jewish Week
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#JDAIM16: Disability And Language
The New Normal
#JDAIM16: Disability And Language
Steven Eidelman
Steven Eidelman
Editor's Note: February is Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month, an international effort to raise awareness (#JDAIM16 on twitter). "The New Normal" will share blogs all month long about the language we use when we talk about disability. Please comment here or on our Facebook page — share with your community and join the conversation!
Does it really matter what we call people? Is terminology and language use important? By now you may think you have heard too much about person-first language, or at least the intent which is to emphasize the person and not the label. This works for most groups, although increasingly those who are autistic, or at least organizations representing them, seem to prefer the term "autistics" over "people with autism" (Read more about that debate here).
So what does it really matter?
Labels and diagnostic criteria are, in the U.S., vital for inclusion in most publicly funded programs and in many cases, those that are private. We need to know who you are to see if you can get what we have. While this is not true in some other countries, categorical eligibility is the norm in the U.S. We bemoan the fact, but it is real.
I tend to think of the issue more along the lines of respect — respect for the person, for his or her humanity and dignity, rather than categorization. Our life experiences and the isolation of many people with disabilities forces us into this categorization by fostering a "they are different, they are the other" way of thinking, a we-they, us-them dichotomy.
Some of this may go away as people are more included in our communities. I recently had an undergraduate student say to me: "She is just like me! She has a boyfriend, likes to go to the movies and to go shopping!” A wonderful observation by 21-year-old, and a sad statement that up to the experience she referenced, she had never interacted in a meaningful way with a person (with an intellectual disability) up to that point.
It would be easy to blame my student but I must say: It’s not her fault! We, all of us, never set up the situations where people with and without disabilities were together for regular activities, so of course, she never saw “them." Or got to know “them.” They were in that class down the hall, on that “special bus,” in a “special” camp. Definitely “they” were not like me. Hence the need to label them, to use language that separates and differentiates them from me.
As Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month begins, let’s be conscious of language. Are our words and terms meant to respect and include people or to show that people are different, apart and in need of “special” programs and places to be? Does language force us to have people with disabilities in that separate Jewish Day School program, or excluded from the school? Do we have an Inclusion Shabbat service one week in the year and then forget that many people want to be there regularly, at holidays and on days that are not holidays?
Can we get rid of the barriers between those with and without disabilities entirely by change language? Of course not but it is a good place to start and, to borrow from Rabbi Hillel in Pirkei Avot who asks "If Not Now, when?" Jewish Disability Awareness Month is as good a place to start as anyplace.
Steven Eidelman is the H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Human Services Policy and Leadership at The University of Delaware and the faculty director of The National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities. He has worked for the last 35 years to help people with disabilities lead full lives in the community.Read More
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"Special Needs" And Relational Inequality
The New Normal
"Special Needs" And Relational Inequality
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks
This is the second blog advocating against the term “special needs” that I’ve posted on the New Normal blog. I’m writing a second article on this subject because I’m speaking on behalf of the majority of disability activists who agree that this term actually defeats our cause. I will take every opportunity to discourage its use until it’s no longer part of our vocabulary, because “special needs” separates us out from the mainstream (special) and it reinforces the charity model (needs) against which the disability community has been struggling for many decades.
If any person, without proof of some sort of impairment or medical condition, could claim that she or he has special needs and request extra time on exams or subsidized tutoring, go to the front of the line at Disney World, or receive customized seating at work just by asking, there would likely be little objection to the term “special needs.” In this case, anyone could claim to have special needs in any given situation. However, using the phrase “special needs” is problematic when it is actually a code word for “disability.” It creates “relational inequality” between people with disabilities and people not yet considered disabled.
My husband, Yisroel Lacks, LCSW-R, coined the phrase “relational inequality” based upon the transactional analysis model of psychotherapy, “… wherein each social transaction is analyzed to determine the involved ego state (whether parent-like, child-like, or adult-like) as a basis for understanding behavior.” For example, the relationship between two adults is ideally adult-to-adult and between children, child to child. We can occasionally choose to seek nurturance from a friend or a spouse (child-to-parent) but, in general, adults relate as adults, and children as children on equal, give and take, and cooperative terms.
Once we attach the word “need” to an individual or population, the relationship between individuals or populations is altered. We are no longer describing a characteristic such as gender, race, or disability. Instead we are describing a state of being — the state of being in need. Infants or young children are understood to be needy and vulnerable. Adults, who are understood to be wiser and more capable, take care of children’s needs and determine what is best. Similarly, adults or children with “special needs,” or worse “special needs adults or children,” on some level are considered to be needy or vulnerable, akin to young children who need care and oversight. People with disabilities want to and should be related to as decision makers and contributors; not people in need of help, support services, guidance, or direction.
Special needs terminology is insidiously poisonous. It seems innocuous, but it corrodes and undermines the very strides for dignity, respect, and equality for which disability activists have crawled up the U.S. Capitol steps, effected the longest Federal agency sit-in in American history, and undergone arrests for civil disobedience at bus stations, legislative offices, and university campuses. We, the disability community, advocate for access and opportunity up until this very day with strength, leadership and determination as a social-political body; as people who have or are perceived as having the characteristic of disability. We are discriminated against because of our disabilities — our physiognomic or physiological compositions that affect function, behavior, or social interaction — and the accompanying misguided belief that we place undue burden upon society. By referring to “special needs populations” we are reinforcing the charity model of disability based upon anticipated neediness (placing us in a child-like role), the cause of much prejudice.
Let’s proudly own and teach our children to proudly own disability as a characteristic and a demographic that deserves respect and recognition for what we contribute.
Sharon Shapiro-Lacks, Founding Executive Director of Yad HaChazakah – The Jewish Disability Empowerment Center, Inc., envisions Jewish communities where people with obvious or hidden disabilities are sought and valued for the strengths they bring. In her vision, leaders and community members will want to improve physical, communication, and attitudinal access to shuls, yeshivas, batei midrash, workplaces, shops, and family life — not only for the benefit to specific individuals, but also for the enrichment of entire communities. She has worked in the disability policy and human services arenas for over 25 years.Read More
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The Language Of Prayer
The New Normal
The Language Of Prayer
Shelly Christensen
Visual icon for Jewish prayer. Courtesy of Gateways: Access To Jewish Education
Synagogues are opening the doors to participation by people with disabilities in large numbers. New buildings and remodeling projects follow the requirements provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Many synagogues have greeters stationed at the doors to welcome people and direct newcomers to coat rooms, washrooms and the sanctuary. Trained ushers know where assistive listening devices are located and can seat people who use wheelchairs with their family and friends.
This is the eighth time we've recognized Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month! Yes, our communities and our institutions have come a long way. But the glaring truth is that we've only just begun to develop person-centered approaches that support individuals to achieve the quality Jewish lives that they direct themselves.
One of the glaring gaps to surface over the past eight years is how so many people with disabilities are not able to enter into the sacred act of prayer. True, in some synagogues prayer is conducted in English. There are many people, with and without disabilities, who make synagogue membership decisions based on the prevailing language of prayer. But in congregations where Hebrew is the sacred language of prayer, how can people with disabilities, who’ve either never been instructed in Hebrew or who have never experienced the familiarity that comes with frequency, pray? Finding ways to help people with disabilities who haven't belonged to a shul or learned Hebrew is another way that congregations can support meaningful participation.
Granted, prayer is a personal and private conversation wtih God that can be held in any language. But when the congregation is davening in Hebrew, people can feel distanced and isolated. It is much like traveling in a foreign country and not knowing the language. One can observe what is happening, but the essence and the nuance of that language is missing.
Our goal for inclusion is to provide support for people to participate in the ways that are important to them. Prayer is an essential point of entry for many people with disabilities into Jewish living. By recognizing that some people come to our shuls without the knowledge of the prevailing language of prayer, we support them in a number of ways.
Here are just a few:
1. You can sit with someone and guide them through the prayerbook by turning the pages, pointing to transliteration, and even (quietly) explaining the prayers.
2. If your synagogue has a prayer book Hebrew class, extend invitations to people who may be new or who may not know that you offer such a class.
3. Offer a class on the liturgy, explaining the order of prayers and what they mean.
4. Pair people up as davening buddies at services. In addition to increasing familiarity with the prayers, people will begin to form relationships around this sacred act.
5. All of us acquire stronger skills with frequency. Encourage people with disabilities to attend services regularly.
Communal prayer is the foundation of synagogue life. Providing pathways for people with disabilities to pray with understanding opens doors to a richer Jewish life.
Shelly Christensen, MA FAAIDD, is the co-founder of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month. Shelly literally wrote the book on inclusion, Jewish Community Guide to Inclusion of People with Disabilities. She is on the faculty of the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Leadership Institute on Disabilities and Inclusion, and is on the Ruderman Chabad Inclusion Initiative core team. Shelly is a frequent speaker and consults with Jewish and other faith communities. She and her husband have three sons, one of whom lives with Asperger syndrome, two grandsons and a Deaf Sheltie named Penina. Reach her at Shelly@inclusioninnovations.com.Read More
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"Is Technology Kosher?" Jewish.TV - Chabad Video for Thursday, Adar I 16, 5776 · February 25, 2016
This Week's Features:
Is Technology Kosher?
Life Lessons from Parshat Ki-Tisa
By Yehoshua B. Gordon
Small, Yet Great
Watch (6:58)
Shattered
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"Is Technology Kosher?" Jewish.TV - Chabad Video for Thursday, Adar I 16, 5776 · February 25, 2016
This Week's Features:
Is Technology Kosher?
Life Lessons from Parshat Ki-Tisa
By Yehoshua B. Gordon
Small, Yet Great
Watch (6:58) Shattered
Why Moses broke the tablets, and its everlasting message for each of us
By Chana Weisberg
Watch (2:42) 
Divine Double Talk
By Chana Weisberg
Watch (2:42) Divine Double Talk
The Ten Commandments Are Only for Moses?
By Moishe New
Watch (40:00) 
Are You Sure You Are in a Healthy Relationship?
By Moishe New
Watch (40:00) Are You Sure You Are in a Healthy Relationship?
Avoid the big mistake of the golden calf
By Yacov Barber
Watch (6:45)
Haman’s Deceptive Scheme
By Yacov Barber
Watch (6:45) Haman’s Deceptive Scheme
The Megillah in Depth, Chapter 3, Part 6
By Mendel Kaplan
Recent and Upcoming Jewish.tv Webcasts:
By Mendel Kaplan
Recent and Upcoming Jewish.tv Webcasts:
Parshah Mnemonics: Ki-Tisa
Decoding the hidden messages
Aaron L. Raskin
Airs Wednesday, February 24 at 7pm ET
Decoding the hidden messages
Aaron L. Raskin
Airs Wednesday, February 24 at 7pm ET
Talmud Gitin 75 (Advanced)
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 6am ET
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 6am ET
Shulchan Aruch, Netilas Yodayim 4:8-9 (First Edition)
Laws of Hand Washing, Part 9
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 6am ET
Laws of Hand Washing, Part 9
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 6am ET
When and How to Give Criticism
The Kabbalah of Behavior
By Shifra Sharfstein
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 7pm ET
The Kabbalah of Behavior
By Shifra Sharfstein
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 7pm ET
LIVE CTeen Concert at Times Square - 2016
Featuring "8th Day Band"
Airs Saturday, February 27 at 8:45pm ET
Featuring "8th Day Band"
Airs Saturday, February 27 at 8:45pm ET
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"Now on Jewish.TV: What Are the Holy Incenses?: Parshah Curiosities: Ki-Tisa - Mendel Kaplan" for Thursday, 25 February 2016
What Are the Holy Incenses?
Parshah Curiosities: Ki-Tisa
By Mendel Kaplan
Watch Now
About this webcast:
The most sacred service in the Holy Temple is the ‘Ketoret’ or incenses. Discover incredible secrets of this strange blend made of assorted aromatic herbs and drugs. How was this mysterious compound of holy hallucinogens created? This class may elevate your consciousness and possibly even shed light on the debate over legalizing marijuana today!
Recent and Upcoming Jewish.tv Webcasts:
"Now on Jewish.TV: What Are the Holy Incenses?: Parshah Curiosities: Ki-Tisa - Mendel Kaplan" for Thursday, 25 February 2016
What Are the Holy Incenses?
Parshah Curiosities: Ki-Tisa
By Mendel Kaplan
Watch Now
About this webcast:
The most sacred service in the Holy Temple is the ‘Ketoret’ or incenses. Discover incredible secrets of this strange blend made of assorted aromatic herbs and drugs. How was this mysterious compound of holy hallucinogens created? This class may elevate your consciousness and possibly even shed light on the debate over legalizing marijuana today!
Recent and Upcoming Jewish.tv Webcasts:
When and How to Give Criticism
The Kabbalah of Behavior
By Shifra Sharfstein
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 7pm ET
The Kabbalah of Behavior
By Shifra Sharfstein
Airs Thursday, February 25 at 7pm ET
Talmud Gitin 76 (Advanced)
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
Shulchan Aruch, Netilas Yodayim 4:10-11 (First Edition)
Laws of Hand Washing, Part 10
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
Laws of Hand Washing, Part 10
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
LIVE CTeen Concert at Times Square - 2016
Featuring "8th Day Band"
Airs Saturday, February 27 at 8:45pm ET
Featuring "8th Day Band"
Airs Saturday, February 27 at 8:45pm ET
LIVE CTeen Gala
Airs Sunday, February 28 at 11:30am ET
Click here to browse our full programming schedule.
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"Now on Jewish.TV: When and How to Give Criticism: The Kabbalah of Behavior - Shifra Sharfstein" Jewish.TV - Chabad Video for Thursday, 25 February 2016
Airs Sunday, February 28 at 11:30am ET
Click here to browse our full programming schedule.
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"Now on Jewish.TV: When and How to Give Criticism: The Kabbalah of Behavior - Shifra Sharfstein" Jewish.TV - Chabad Video for Thursday, 25 February 2016
When and How to Give Criticism
The Kabbalah of Behavior
By Shifra Sharfstein
Watch
This webcast begins:
Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 7pm ET
About this webcast:
If you don't like getting criticism from other people, you don't want to be the person who criticizes wrongly. Is there a way to give criticism in a way that will be appreciated by others?
Recent and Upcoming Jewish.tv Webcasts:
Talmud Gitin 76 (Advanced)
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
Shulchan Aruch, Netilas Yodayim 4:10-11 (First Edition)
Laws of Hand Washing, Part 10
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
Laws of Hand Washing, Part 10
By Avraham Meyer Zajac
Airs Friday, February 26 at 6am ET
LIVE CTeen Concert at Times Square - 2016
Featuring "8th Day Band"
Airs Saturday, February 27 at 8:45pm ET
Click here to browse our full programming schedule.
Featuring "8th Day Band"
Airs Saturday, February 27 at 8:45pm ET
Click here to browse our full programming schedule.
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