It’s Not What It Seems

Friends-

Disabilities aren’t always apparent to the naked eye. It is our duty to get to know someone and not pass judgment right away. We have much to learn from the below video.

- Jay

Read our last post: The Power of Advocacy

Please note: There will be no blog post this coming Monday, which is Memorial Day.

The Power Of Advocacy

by: William Daroff

Two weeks ago, I was privileged to participate as a speaker at ADVANCE: The Ruderman Jewish Disabilities Funding Conference, along with more than 100 Jewish leaders. The conference, which was co-sponsored by The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), focused on the proposition that our Jewish values propel us to welcome, embrace, and engage individuals with disabilities and their families into the mosaic that makes up the American Jewish community.

The agenda allowed attendees to focus on issues from birth to end of life, including education, employment, housing, and communal life.  Each session featured experienced panelists who guided funders through conversations about developing opportunities to ensure individuals with disabilities can participate meaningfully in the Jewish community.  With the help of Pascale Bercovitch, an Israeli paralympic athlete, who opened our minds to the potential of people with disabilities; Joseph Shapiro of NPR, who reminded us of the challenges the disability community faces defending its civil rights; and Rick Guidotti of Positive Exposure, who showed us the impact the visual arts can have on our perception of people with disabilities; the momentum achieved as the conference ended was palpable.

One focus of that momentum was in the realm of advocacy.  I joined Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, Founder and President of Laszlo Strategies; Allan Bergman, President and CEO of High Impact Mission-Based Consulting and Training; and Ari Ne’eman, President and Co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, in a dialogue with conference attendees on the importance of advocacy on issues impacting the disability community and the critical role public charities and private foundations can play in advocating on those issues.  JFNA and our partners – including advocates representing a broad range of Jewish communities, religious streams, social service providers and public policy organizations – work day in and day out with policy makers on Capitol Hill and in the Administration to further the goal of ensuring individuals with disabilities can lead healthy, independent lives.  Public charities and private foundations should be engaged in these efforts as well.

Our work comes at a critical time. The unemployment rates we associate with the slow recovery from the Great Recession pale in comparison to the persistent lack of employment opportunities for the disability community.  The disincentive for individuals receiving disability benefits to work in order to maintain those benefits, and the inability for those relying on those benefits to build assets, makes upward mobility even more difficult.  The growing challenge for non-profit agencies to provide home- and community-based care makes independent living for many individuals with disabilities an impossibility. The challenges are daunting, but for the Jewish community, it is an opportunity, both in the context of Jewish values and the continuity of our faith, to welcome those who have been marginalized back into our community.

As we continue to advocate for improved policies and initiatives that improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and their families, we encourage all to recognize and support these critical needs. We know that only through a happy marriage of public and private initiatives and program funding can we truly achieve success on behalf of those with disabilities and their families.

William Daroff is Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington office of the Jewish Federations of North America. Follow him on twitter at @Daroff. 

We’re Just Getting Started

I invite you to read our interview with Congressman Patrick Kennedy about overcoming the barriers to full inclusion.

- Jay

Almost two years ago, our first post hit the Blogosphere. We featured a story that appeared in Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent newspaper which discussed local venture philanthropy and how this model will help shape philanthropy in the future.

We were off and running. 199 posts later, I can look back with satisfaction at how our blog has created conversations surrounding the inclusion of people with disabilities into Jewish communal life, American-Israel relations and philanthropy.

Our blog is a home for leading experts and advocates, members of Israel’s Knesset (Parliament), parents, foundation workers, rabbis and Jewish leaders. We have heard from camps, organizations, schools, synagogues, Shabbat programs and more and learned how they are becoming more inclusive.

We have focused on tragedies and triumphs, discussed the changing Jewish community worldwide, conducted interviews, heard firsthand accounts of everyday people working for a more just society. The blog is a showcase of our community’s diversity and our constant will to create lasting change.

The biggest takeaway from our blog is the conversations that have started elsewhere and the many blogs which now discuss inclusion in the Jewish community. Our goal has always been to put this issue on the international Jewish agenda and this is slowly becoming a reality.

200 blog posts. We’re just getting started…

Please note: There will be no blog post on Thursday due to the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Our next post, next Monday, will feature William Daroff of JFNA discussing the ADVANCE Conference.

Interview with Congressman Patrick Kennedy

I had the pleasure of interviewing Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D- RI) recently about inclusion of people with disabilities and the issue of mental health. Congressman Kennedy, after representing Rhode Island for 16 years, founded One Mind for Research which is dedicated to dramatic enhancements in funding and collaboration in research across all brain disorders.

Below is part one of the interview. Part two will appear soon on our blog.
- Ephraim Gopin, Communications Director, Ruderman Family Foundation

Yesterday’s ADVANCE Conference was designed to impress on funders the importance of full inclusion and make them aware how their funding can be more inclusive. What do you believe are the biggest barriers to the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of our society?

Attitudinal barriers obviously affect everything. It’s attitudes that still get in the way of full inclusion and the empowerment of people facing various challenges.

It goes back to the most elemental moral issue that President Kennedy spoke about in the National Address on Civil Rights: “Who among us would be content with the counsels of patience & delay?” Would you be willing to trade places with someone who has a different station in life & be content? It’s the oldest rule in the book, the golden rule- it’s really that simple. It’s about treating others as we ourselves want to be treated.

Everyone becomes nervous because it means they have a moral commitment to do what they know is the right thing. Will you do what’s right or compromise your values for expediency?

If this was your son or daughter, brother or sister, mother or father, would you tolerate the status quo? I hope everyone says no, because we can do much better. We have an opportunity to investigate what works in helping people live the most fulfilled, independent lives they can and to restructure the current pay mix for health care today.

We should ask the consumer, NOT their provider, what they require. Forget what’s paid for now, what’s reimbursed, what the current criteria say. Find out what people want- let’s understand that first and then see how we can make that reality.

We’re in a historically terrific environment to create lasting change. It’s a disruptive environment in healthcare and the challenge is to take money out of the institutions (high cost, low value) and redirect those dollars to offer more benefits and better value. Let’s utilize resources wisely for individual achievement and empowerment so they can live full, independent productive lives given what they’re faced with.

What do you believe are the most effective ways to remove those barriers?

We have often siloed ourselves in the disability advocacy movement by a particular diagnosis. Instead of looking at our common ground and our common struggle, which allows for larger representation for what unites us, we have become a fragmented representation of many different advocacy organizations.

In the disability movement, we’re not always a movement but a collection of many individual enterprises that in total represent a movement but organically don’t really represent a coordinated common endeavor. United we stand, divided we fall contains an essential element of truth.

This October 23-24 is the 50^th anniversary of President Kennedy signing the Community Mental Health Services Act (CMHA). We are going to host an event looking back on his historic speech to congress on February 5, 1963. In that address, President Kennedy outlined a process. He talked about prevention, way back in 1963! Prevention and early intervention is now readily available in allowing people to live full and productive lives.

He talked about standardization, discussed using evidence so when we know something works, we make it available to everybody.

He talked about continuity of care, coordinating community support services. We’re at a point now where we can actually realize this through health care reform and have it covered, which we of course have neglected to do until now.

We have become distinct groups- the intellectual disability community, the developmental disability community, the severe mental illness community. There are so many commonalities in what we all need, the notion that we won’t get in the same room with one another because our agendas are different is just self-defeating. That’s why I co-founded One Mind for Research because we’ve divided this one organ by disease. We need to understand the complexity of this organ called the brain and how we can unite together to create lasting change.

This is an important anniversary and is the catalyst for why we’re bringing all the stakeholders together. The conference is not a one and done. It’s the beginning of an effort to make the most of healthcare reform and all the changes we are seeing take place.

At this anniversary event we’re going to discuss what we got wrong, what we got right & how the new laws of parity and health care reform can be used to fulfill the original vision of President Kennedy as articulated in his address to Congress. I hope we will be successful.

Inclusive Philanthropy

This is an op-ed that originally appeared on eJewishPhilanthropy.
by: Jay Ruderman

“The day is short, the task is great and the master is urgent”
(Chapters of the Fathers, 2:20)

Thousands of people and hundreds of Jewish organizations are dedicated to working towards the full inclusion of people with disabilities in our communities. US government statistics show that 20% of the US population has some form of disability. This is a population we are all connected to.

Our foundation and many others believe that all Jews should be fully included in Jewish communal life, whether at school, synagogue or in the workforce. No one should be excluded from participating and no barriers constructed to keep people out. As this issue probably affects someone in your family, a neighbor or a friend, full inclusion needs to have a prominent place on the Jewish agenda.

The question for Jewish funders and philanthropists is: Are you funding programs which are fully inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities?

There’s a growing number of philanthropists and major Jewish organizations dedicated to full inclusion of people with disabilities in our community, but we need more partners in our efforts. It is crucial that philanthropic leaders are made aware of the issue of inclusion and its centrality to vibrant Jewish life.

The upcoming ADVANCE conference – the Ruderman Jewish Disabilities Funding Conference – is specifically designed to engage and challenge Jewish funders. We do not want philanthropists to change their funding strategies but we want them to consider being more inclusive with their charitable donations.

Conference attendees will learn:

• how to include supports, services and opportunities for Jews with disabilities in whatever programs or fields they fund
• how to recognize programs that promote inclusion
• how to deal with pressure from prominent organizations to fund programs that segregate.

To advance the cause of inclusive philanthropy, the conference partners with major Jewish organizations so they too can bring this message to their funders. Partners include the Jewish Funders Network, the Jewish Federations of North America, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston. Their participation shows the importance attached to full inclusion and their commitment to making it a reality.

The American Jewish community has many issues which need fixing and important matters to be grappled with. Inclusion of all members of our community should be something which we can all agree on. Funders and philanthropists play a vital role in making this happen.

People with disabilities want to be included in every aspect of Jewish communal life. The day is short, the task is great and it is imperative that we all work together to create a dynamic and attractive Jewish community for everyone.

Disability As Lifelong Marathon

The op-ed below appeared yesterday in The Times of Israel. Our foundation’s location- headquarters in both Israel and Boston- and our expertise in the area of disabilities gave us we believe a unique perspective on last week’s Boston Marathon bombings.

- Jay

Jeff Bauman is on my mind.

One week ago, two brothers carried out a despicable attack in Boston. Their targets were innocent civilians, marathon runners, fans, by-standers and local law enforcement officials. Their goal was to kill, hurt and maim. And unfortunately, they succeeded.

The foundation I represent is unique in the philanthropic world as we have headquarters both in Israel and in Boston. Living in Israel, terrorist attacks have unfortunately become part and parcel of life here. As soon as news breaks, we text everyone we know, constantly refresh news sites, wait for the latest updates.

But frantic phone calls to staff in Boston, ensuring people are OK, waiting for family members to check in overseas, was a surreal experience. Upside down, in fact. This hit close to home, 6,000 miles away.

Jeff Bauman, who lost both legs in the attack, and the other 170 injured people weren’t expecting to have their lives turned upside down. But those who sustained permanent disabilities have just joined a large swath of the population whose needs are not adequately met.

The US government estimates that 20 percent of the population has some form of disability. In Israel, approximately one million Israelis of working age have a disability. Some are born with a disability while other disabilities occur with age. So many people are affected – those with disabilities, their families, friends, co-workers, neighbors and communities.

But sometimes, a disability happens in an instant. A car accident, sports injury, a stroke and yes, terrorist attack. Jeff Bauman…. Healthy one minute, a person with a disability the next.

Continue reading the post on Times of Israel

Photo courtesy of instagram.com/p/YVclHcpREx

The “Wait”

The op-ed below originally appeared on the Jim Joseph Foundation blog. Our foundation is a partner in the B’Yadenu project highlighted in the post.

By: Dr. Alan Oliff

Recently I found myself stuck in an elevator at the Jewish Day School Conference. While I am not particularly claustrophobic it seemed to take a long time to figure out how to get out of the elevator.  You feel a bit alone when no one else is with you and wondering whether anyone in the outside world will be there for you.  I shared this incident with my colleagues on the B’Yadenu project in Boston, a special needs inclusion initiative implemented by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, the Yeshiva University Institute for University-School Partnership, and six Boston-area Jewish day schools.  Waiting alone in that elevator made me think of those with disabilities that are waiting to be embraced in their Jewish communities. Many of them are still waiting to feel included by educational programs and key Jewish institutions.

The B’Yadenu team decided it didn’t want this wait to persist.  We are implementing a Jewish day school project (funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Ruderman Family Foundation) on whole school change for supporting the success of all learners. We collaborate with each school to support them in a better understanding of their school’s infrastructure and approach towards diverse learners. Each school is responsible for developing a plan for professional development, training programs, and other activities to build the capacity of teachers and school leaders to educate students with a wide range of learning needs.

While we all have much to do in our communities to end this “wait,” our project is one example of action beginning to take place in Jewish day schools and institutions across the country. There is an increased understanding by individuals and organizations that every young Jew should have access to meaningful Jewish learning experiences. While waiting can feel interminable, putting an end to the “wait” is satisfying.   For us, the “wait” will be over when we extend to every Jew an inclusive opportunity to get involved and engaged in Jewish life in their community.

B’Yadenu is a small part of the effort to vigorously respond to this critical need.   It is focused on change on scale across a number of day schools.  While this is an initial but significant step, large scale change in all aspects of Jewish life is necessary to truly end the “wait.”

My wait ended when the elevator doors were pushed open and I was allowed to charge off to a meeting…late but pleased to be included once again.  We must think creatively and collaborate to create the conditions so that the “wait” also ends for special needs learners in our communities.

Dr. Alan Oliff is the Director of the Initiative for Day School Excellence, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston, MA.  Dr. Oliff serves as the Manager for the B’Yadenu Project, a special needs inclusion initiative.

United We Play

by: Jo AnnSimons

Recently I blogged about one of those heartwarming stories where an individual with a disability gets a moment “in the sun” to switch from team manager and play the final seconds in a basketball game or catch a pass in a football game.

I acknowledged the “feel good” nature of the story and the joy and happiness it brings to the individual, their family and to the community. I also questioned whether it was actually helping us achieve a truly inclusive society that values everyone.

What I probably should have said is that we need examples of real opportunities and not “tokens”. Tokenism does not move us forward. Fortunately, I did not have to wait long to see real opportunities.

Two weeks ago, in Worcester, Massachusetts and other locations in central and western Massachusetts, almost a thousand athletes competed in the Winter Games of Special Olympics Massachusetts. I was among the proud spectators who watched almost a dozen Unified basketball games.

Unified we pass and shoot
Unified Sports actually began in Massachusetts and is now part of every single Special Olympic sport throughout the world. Unified Sports is dedicated to promoting inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences. Unified Sports are joint teams of people with and without intellectual disabilities. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. It has been my experience that it also leads to developing a social network which can result in job leads and employment opportunities.

In Unified Sports, teams consist of people of similar age and ability, which makes practices more fun and games more challenging and exciting for all. I was particularly drawn to my son’s team, LIFE Force, and I watched them play with heart, dedication, determination and skill. They were well coached, trained and disciplined.

Courtesy of http://bit.ly/YKNql0

They came in fourth, missing the medal round after posting a 1-3 record. Each of their losses was decided by a basket. The play was physical- there were elbows, blocking and a player even took a fist to the face. It was a real basketball game and it was well refereed.

Their lone win, the last game played, came after an emotional pep talk by their coach to the team to remind them that they were playing for Chris, a team member who had recently died after a short bout with cancer.

There were hundreds of “feel good” moments for me and among them was the selfless passing of our son, Jon, the points he scored but nothing greater than the grace he displayed in losing. Of not being on the medal stand and telling me that while he wished they had won, he made “many new friends this season.”

Every time Jon sets foot on a basketball court, soccer field or a golf course, he enjoys “days in the sun” and they are more important than a moment.

Please note: Our regular blog post will not appear next Monday because of the Passover holiday.

Read our last post: Everyone Has A Seat

An Inclusive Shabbat Experience

Read our last post: Cooking Up Employment Opps

By: Rabbi Michael Fel

It only takes a matter of moments for the energetic tunes of Kabbalat Shabbat (Sabbath prayer) to transform a group of strangers into a united prayer community.  By the time we reached Psalm 96, a mere five minutes into the service, I looked up from the  lectern and saw nearly the entire congregation, guests and regulars, linked hand in hand, singing and dancing, as if they had known each other for years.  Thus began our first ever Mahaneh Emunah at Temple Emunah in Lexington, Massachusetts.  After services, we enjoyed a delicious Shabbat dinner catered by Camp Ramah of New England, sang z’mirot (Shabbat songs) and played games.  By the night’s end, participants were eagerly asking when the next Mahaneh Emunah would take place.

Creating an Inclusive Atmosphere
From its inception, the goal of Mahaneh Emunah was to create a prayer experience that was inclusive and interesting to ALL members of the Jewish community. Rather than creating a program from scratch, we modified our existing Friday Night service, thus enabling our guests to integrate quicker into our community.  These modifications, which are applicable to any service or congregation, included:

● Designating a quiet space for those who can become over stimulated.
● Supplying earplugs and/or personal audio amplification for those with hearing needs.
● Creating a large flip chart to display the page numbers throughout the service.
● Telling a five-minute interactive story during prayers.
● Arranging the chairs in a U Shape with extra-wide aisles for easy access and egress from the service.
● Providing large print copies of the prayer book and an outline of the service/evening’s program.
● Designating “Synagogue Buddies” to sit with and acclimate guests into the community.

The evening drew over one hundred participants, including many unaffiliated families, who heard of the program through other community organizations. The program was also subsidized through partnerships with the National Ramah Commission and Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Boston.

In the end, we created an opportunity that was engaging and accessible, with one congregant commenting, “Why can’t we do this every week?  These modifications are helpful to everyone!”

Michael Fel is the Assistant Rabbi at Temple Emunah in Lexington, Massachusetts

Being All We Can Be

Watch our last post: The Winning Shot

By Jo Ann Simons

Can you see both sides of a story or is that being wishy washy? I ask myself that each time the television brings us another story of a student with autism making a three pointer on his only appearance in a high school game or the kid with Down syndrome suiting up for a play on the varsity football team. Is it inclusion or exploitation? Is it something to celebrate or something to discourage?

No doubt the events bring positive exposure and feelings of great joy to the individual, the family and even their community.

I think it might actually set us back on the road to a society where diversity is valued and embraced.

In the fight for inclusion, we are asking for acceptance. We are asking to be given the same opportunities as others. So, why does this bother me so much?

We can’t all be athletes
Not everyone makes the varsity athletic teams. That is why junior varsity and club sports exist- for the enthusiast without the skills to compete at the highest level.  Some of the most enthusiastic lovers of sport do not have athletic skills and there are still meaningful roles for them to fill- managers, coaches, trainers, announcers, statisticians, locker room attendants.  Bob, our usher at Fenway Park loves baseball and the Red Sox more than the next guy but, that does not give him the opportunity to take batting practice with the team.

Likewise, my daughter, in spite of many years of playing field hockey,  never made the varsity team nor was she given the opportunity to suit up for a play that was “set up” to make her feel good.  Her softball coach suggested she might find another sport. Such is real life. In the era where everyone is a winner, she learned the truth. It might have been the most important life lesson she learned.

When Jon, my son with Down syndrome, announced at age 12 that he wanted to coach the Boston Celtics, I shared with him the truth-gently. I told him that most coaches were former NBA players and he was not going to be tall enough and even his father  was not good enough to be an NBA player. However, if he wanted to be a coach, he could. We would find a team where he could help. We talked about helping out the “Biddy Basketball” team at the JCC. Later, Jon did help and he went on to manage his high school basketball team and today he helps out the local middle school team. And he plays Unified Basketball on a Special Olympics team.

I have no doubt that Jon would have been deliriously happy to have been able to suit up for just one minute of just one game for his high school team. And I know that he would still be talking about it today. I would have also been over the top with happiness with the joy it would have brought to Jon.

It would not have been a good lesson. The world he lives in successfully gives him opportunities to work in his dream environment-on a golf course. He gets to golf as much as he can. It does not give him the opportunity to be a golf pro.

Acceptance for Jon begins with Jon. He has accepted, after a long journey, that he has a disability. He knows he will never be able to some things. He doesn’t dwell on what he won’t be. We celebrate him and that includes his disability. If we try to take it away from him, in ways that are not real, we take away who he is.

Jo Ann Simons is a Disability Advisor to the Ruderman Family Foundation and President and CEO of the Cardinal Cushing Centers