The Nalaga’at Center is coming to New York City!

By Guest Blogger Talia Winokur, the Nalaga’at Center

This January, New York City audiences will have the chance to experience a unique social and artistic enterprise – the Nalaga’at Center. The Center — based in the Israeli port of Jaffa — is a meeting place for people who are deaf, blind, deaf-blind, sighted and hearing.

The Nalaga’at Center is also home to the Nalaga’at Theater, the only theater in the world with actors who are deaf-blind. The 22 ensemble actors mount two productions: “Not by Bread Alone,” the theater’s highly acclaimed show which has been running for over four years, and “Luna Park,” the new production now in trial runs.

Both shows open a window into the special inner world of people who are both deaf and blind, living in a darkness and stillness that is unimaginable to most.

 Now “Not by Bread Alone” is set to be performed at the Skirball Center in Manhattan from January 16 through February 3. The show, a magical journey that spans various stories, dreams and locations, has been performed in Israel, South Korea and London — where it has received rave reviews. One critic called it  “a test of theater itself, the way good work can communicate across the boundaries of darkness and silence.”  (Lyn Gardner, The Guardian)

The Nalaga’at Center is also home to two extraordinary culinary venues: Kapish Café, where all waiters are deaf and communicate with the guests in sign language, teaching them a different form of communication; and the BlackOut, where the guests dine in absolute darkness and the waiters, who are all blind, serve as their guides in the unknown territory of no-vision. Replicas of both Kapish Café and the BlackOut restaurant will also be built at the Skirball Center, serving the public before and after the show.

All of us at the Nalaga’at Center invite you to join us for these unique and powerful experiences.  For more information, click here.  

What Keeps Us Up at Night: Abuse of Those With Disabilities

Friends,

In response to a shocking news report this week, the Jerusalem Post just published my op-ed calling for a hard look at the perils of institutionalization of people with disabilities and an immediate plan to join the growing global movement toward deinstitutionalization.

Here is the link to the op-ed, or you can simply scroll down for the full text. As always, I invite your response in the comment boxes provided.

— Jay Ruderman

Managing Israel’s Psychiatric Hospitals

By JAY RUDERMAN

Until Israel takes its place alongside other progressive countries and commits to a national policy of community-based living for everyone, we should all have a hard time sleeping.  Along with Israelis across our nation, I was stunned and deeply disturbed by the news that last week law enforcement raided a psychiatric hospital in Petah Tikva and detained for questioning 75 staff members as part of a year-long investigation that uncovered widespread sexual and physical abuse at the facility.

Two days after the raid, the hospital – which had a patient population of about 150 – was shut down, and patients were transferred to other facilities throughout our country.

This is not the first case of abuse at an institution. Sadly, there have been many. As unsettling as these reports are, the investigation also showed that there were others who did not directly participate in the abuse, but knew it was happening, and did not speak up.

So much about the institutional environment and the way it operates – with its impersonal procedures, its creation of dependence on the part of those it serves, its separation from society, and its dearth of community – enables and supports a culture where abuse can be practiced with impunity.

In Israel we need to pick up the pace and dedicate far more emotion, focus and resources to creating more options for care in the community. It is in this model and paradigm in which individuals are afforded the best opportunities for growth and independence.

More than 40 years ago the United States faced its own Neve Ya’akov scandal – one that resulted when the young investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera exposed physical and sexual abuse at the Willowbrook State School, a New York state-run residential facility located in New York City.

The 28-minute video documentary – Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace – led to massive policy reform and, ultimately, government funding policies that promoted and supported community-based services for people with disabilities.

In my native Massachusetts in 1972, a lawsuit was filed in federal court by parents of children with developmental disabilities living in state “schools.” Judge Joseph L. Tauro made an unannounced visit to the Belchertown State School and found appalling conditions.

Under Judge Tauro’s supervision, which lasted for many years, these institutions were cleaned up and ultimately closed.

Massachusetts has one remaining institution that serves a very small number of adults with developmental disabilities, and it is expected to close very soon. It does still have state-run psychiatric hospitals.

A more recent federal lawsuit in the US, called the Olmstead case, has led to a massive shift to community care across the US. Individuals who had lived in facilities for decades have now been given the proper support for community living and for the first time are enjoying their independence in the community.

The arguments about why we must keep institutions open ring hollow. Some people insist there are “difficult cases” that require institutionalization. But the fact is that countries around the world – with the US leading in this area – are closing institutions and more and more are caring in the community for those with even the most significant disabilities.

Indeed, in the US, there are 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, which have eliminated all public institutions for people with developmental disabilities.

I am not suggesting that transitioning away from institutional care will eliminate all abuse. But it is harder to commit such acts, and harder to hide them, when people leave home every day to work, participate in day habilitation, or to go to school in the community.

It’s harder to commit and hide abuse when people with disabilities are treated by doctors and therapists with offices in the community. It’s harder to commit and hide abuse when local police and safety officials protect people with disabilities along with all other members of their community.

The media reports that Dalia, the mother of a 24-year-old man who was a patient at Neve Ya’akov, told investigating authorities “we complained to the administrator… we live in fear that tonight he will be hit or they will inject him. We don’t sleep.”

We trust that the authorities will conduct a thorough investigation of what occurred at the hospital, will uncover the truth, will identify the guilty, and will make sure justice is done.

But until Israel takes its place alongside other progressive countries and commits to a national policy of community-based living for everyone, we should – like Dalia, the mother of the patient at Neve Ya’akov – all have a hard time sleeping.

The writer is President of the Ruderman Family Foundation.

We Have Come so Far …. Ann Coulter Notwithstanding

By Jo Ann Simons, Ruderman Family Foundation Disabilities Advisor and CEO, Cardinal Cushing Centers

Whenever I see an old Seinfeld episode where Jerry is using one of the first portable phones, it reminds me of how many changes I have seen in my adult life. Those bulky phones now seem primitive. In reality, it wasn’t too long ago when they looked pretty impressive. Now we are walking around with phones the size of a deck of cards that also double as computers.

These thoughts also remind me of the positive changes I have seen in the disability world. We can argue the decision to hire an able-bodied actor to portray the Glee character who uses a wheelchair.  But we have to celebrate the producers’ use of Lauren Potter, an actor with Down syndrome, to portray Becky, one of the hit show’s cheerleaders.  And it was the decision to hire a 50- year-old actor with Down syndrome to portray Sue Sylvester’s older sister that I celebrated most.  Her character died in the second season, but the storyline was realistic. The life expectancy of persons with Down is now close to 60 years old but only a few decades ago it was 20.

Having depicted both a teen and an older adult with disabilities, Glee is bringing another generation of actors into the storyline. Last season ended with Sue revealing her pregnancy, and this season we have learned that baby Robin—named for the actress who played Sue’s sister—also has Down syndrome.  While we all wait to see exactly how this will be played out, I took a moment to celebrate how disability is finally being seen as just a part of humanity.

My moment of celebration was cut short when I read about commentator Ann Coulter’s recent description of President Obama as a “retard.” Despite an outcry from people with disabilities and others, she said she was not sorry for her use of the “R” word.

Coulter defended this with an irrational logic: she claimed the word is synonymous with the word “loser.”  But that is the whole point…  The high school kid who yelled “here comes the retard” as I drove my son to school was calling him a “loser.”  That is exactly how that kid wanted my son to feel.

So I can’t fully enjoy the progress we have made with Glee, because there are still those like Ann Coulter who just don’t get that the world has changed.

— Jo Ann Simons

Abuse of People with Disabilities Cannot be Tolerated

Dear Friends,

I want to share with you an update of an opinion piece I published this week in Commonwealth magazine online.  Please take a moment to consider this serious problem.

–Jay

Abuse of People with Disabilities Cannot be Tolerated: Laws and Attitudes Must Change

By Jay Ruderman

The abuse of children is so disturbing that we will go to any lengths to prevent, educate and prosecute in what can only be called a “war” against child abuse.  However, just as disturbing but often lacking the headlines and the political will to prevent it, is abuse against people with disabilities. Unfortunately many people with disabilities can present a particularly easy target for abuse, as we have learned from recent incidents reported in the news.

In August, a person with a disability was beaten on a subway platform in Boston when he tried to help a woman who was arguing with three men.  Earlier in the year, the father of a child with a disability in New Jersey suspected that his child was being abused by a school teacher and sent his child to school with a hidden recording device.  The vitriol recorded by that teacher makes it too difficult for many to even listen to the entire recording.

These incidents and others like them demonstrate that we remain far from creating an inclusive society where people with disabilities are treated equally to those without a disability.

One can understand how such abuse occurs. Disabilities can prevent a person from getting away from an abuser or defending one’s self, and a person with a disability may be unable to call for help.  Some with disabilities may be unable or limited in their ability to tell anyone what happened to them, making abuse against these individuals particularly ruthless and tragic.

More troubling yet, many people with disabilities don’t have friends or peers to help advocate for them, and this is due in part to the fact that our social, cultural, and employment institutions have not been fully open and welcoming to them.

We know the reporting of such abuse is far below the actual level of occurrence, because it goes unreported so often. This fact compounds the hurt and suffering reflected in the abuse data that we do have.

In one year from 2009 to 2010, cases of serious violent crimes such as rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault against people with disabilities increased from 270,830 to 282,460, according to the United States Department of Justice.

In 2010, such instances of serious violent crime made up about half of all violence against people with disabilities– a rise of 36% from the previous year.

A story that ran on March 12, 2011 in the New York Times focused on appalling incidences in which employees of New York state’s group homes for people with disabilities abused the residents.

The story, “At State-Run Homes, Abuse and Impunity,” described how few allegations of criminal abuse were referred to law enforcement, even though state law requires these allegations be referred to authorities. The story also detailed widespread lack of accountability and oversight of employees, and how 25% of employees who had been accused of sexual, physical, and emotional assault – with each accusation supported by credible evidence – were transferred to work in other state-run homes.

The story reported the case of 47-year-old supervisor accused of sexually abusing a 54-year-old woman with severe disabilities.  Evidence against him included an eye witness and physical evidence found on the victim. Despite the evidence, he was placed on administrative leave and then transferred to another group home.  He eventually was arrested, tried, convicted of a misdemeanor, and spent less than a year in jail.

“Law enforcement officials had trouble explaining the delays and errors in the case and blamed the victim’s inability to communicate,” wrote the reporter in the Times article.

Blaming the victim: haven’t we learned to be better than this?

As a civilized society we cannot tolerate this level of abuse.  It is an indictment of our values and a direct result of the lack of inclusion in our community and in our world.

In recent years, we have tackled the age-old problem of bullying.  We educate our children about the hurt and suffering that result when a child is tormented.   We have embraced a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and we now suspend or expel students when they bully others.

We must take the same approach to abuse of people with disabilities. We must view it as unacceptable in our society and commit to eradicate it at every level.

Yes, we need tougher laws and better enforcement.  I know that as a former prosecutor.  Even more difficult than changing laws– no mean feat in itself– we need to examine our values.

We must look ourselves in the mirror, search our souls, and admit: yes, we must do better.

Jay Ruderman is president of the Ruderman Family Foundation

Another View of American Democracy: A Knesset Member Speaks Out

Dear Friends,

Today I share with you the second of two op-eds by members of the Israeli Knesset that appeared on JTA, the primary global news service of the Jewish community.

It may be surprising, at a time when many of us are tiring of election season, to hear about how our democracy is viewed by others.

–   Jay Ruderman

 Israel must Learn from American’s Unrelenting Self-Examination

By Raleb Majadele, deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset and a member of the Labor Party

Among the many strengths of Israel is its strong democratic tradition. Maintaining this tradition, however, seems to be more of a challenge with every passing year.

Perhaps my feeling is in part a result of a recent visit to the United States, where I witnessed the U.S. presidential election playing out in a demonstration of democracy that is particularly vibrant, robust and energetic.

Along with four other members of the Knesset, I visited the U.S. as a member of the Ruderman Fellows delegation, sponsored by the Ruderman Family Foundation, to promote greater understanding among Israel and the American Jewish community. Throughout many meetings in Boston and New York City that included a wide spectrum of Jewish community and public leaders, I was deeply impressed by the dynamics of an American democracy in which the diversity of opinion and culture is so embraced.

What also was instilled in me is that a primary component of American strength is the unrelenting self-examination and self-criticism to which it subjects itself. America is not afraid to confront its missteps and imperfections.

My visit to the United States was for me, an Arab citizen of Israel, a profound lesson in democracy. Democratic values are deeply rooted in American society, as well as in its Constitution, which guarantees the equal rights of minorities as a fundamental precept of American law.

Among American Jews I discovered a diverse and principled community representing a wealth of political opinions, religious streams and worldviews. I was moved by the passion and commitment evoked through points of both essential agreement and unbridled disagreement on political, social and strategic issues affecting not only the community but support for Israel as well.

We in Israel have much to learn from the American Jewish community in how to contend with our differences within a safe and respectful atmosphere. Stronger democracy is the cure to a weakening of unity within Israel — and a weakening of support for Israel from outside our country.

For sure, democracy in America is imperfect — and it has taken more than two centuries for it to achieve this level of imperfection. But the U.S. no doubt is a beacon and example of how to build and hold on to representative government. My Israel has much to learn.

 

Dental Hygiene, Dementia and Disabilities: Looks Like Mom was Right … Again

By Jo Ann Simons, Ruderman Family Foundation Disabilities Advisor and CEO Cardinal Cushing Centers

 Reuter’s  recently reported that: “People who keep their teeth and gums healthy with regular brushing may have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life, according to a U.S. study.”

Researchers at the University of California who followed nearly 5,500 elderly people over an 18-year-period found that those who reported brushing their teeth less than once a day were up to 65 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who brushed daily.

“Not only does the state of your mind predict what kind of oral health habits you practice, it may be that your oral health habits influence whether or not you get dementia,” said Annlia Paganini-Hill, who led the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

This study is very important for those of us in the disability world since poor oral hygiene is often noticed and reported in people with disabilities.  Together with an increased risk of dementia in certain population groups like Down syndrome, this study should be taken very seriously by caregivers and families.

Remember to brush your teeth … even after eating that apple. And don’t forget to thank your mom.

­­ — Jo Ann Simons

The Boston Globe Helps Spread the Word: Multi-Sector Partnerships are Win-Win for Jobs for People with Disabilities

Friends,

I invite you to check out the following Op-Ed by myself and Joanne F. Goldstein, Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development in Massachusetts.  It ran last week in The Boston Globe online; for your convenience we have posted it both as text and in a link. I’d be interested to hear your reactions, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box below.

Note: We will not be posting a blog this coming Monday in observance of Shemini Atzeret. We look forward to re-joining you next Thursday, October 11.

— Jay Ruderman

THE PODIUM

A Template For Job Training Programs For People With Disabilities

As the nation’s economy continues to recover and people return to the workforce, it is important to be mindful of the fact that people with disabilities still face barriers in the labor market.

In July, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released new data that showed good news, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities fell to 13.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012. Yet it also showed that only one in five were participating in the labor market. The unemployment rate does not reflect that many people with disabilities, frustrated by workplaces that are unwelcome, may have simply given up their job searches or that the unemployment rate for those without disabilities is 8.4 percent, over five points lower.

Such sobering statistics remind us that we cannot be complacent in our work on behalf of people with disabilities. People with disabilities want to work, and given the opportunity, are among the most committed and dedicated employees. They often contribute to creating positive cultures within their organizations.

We must encourage more employers to be open to – and even proactive in – hiring a person with a disability. A handful of companies have been pioneers in this regard; they recognize the positive impact these hiring practices have on their bottom lines.

There is a concerted federal effort to create opportunities for people with disabilities. President Obama issued an executive order that set a goal: by 2015, ensure that 100,000 federal workforce hires are people with disabilities. This order has already reversed a nine-year decline in the federal employment participation rate for working age people with disabilities.

In Massachusetts, the Patrick administration continues to advance a number of initiatives as well. Governor Patrick’s Strategic Plan to Make Massachusetts a Model Employer for People with Disabilities provides a set of recommendations for affirmatively promoting the hiring and retention of people with disabilities in the executive branch of state government. Since the effort commenced in 2007, the percentage of persons with a disability employed in the executive branch increased by approximately 70 percent. The state also secured grant funding to outfit the Commonwealth’s 34 One-Stop Career Centers with assistive technology, and it restructured programs to be more responsive to the needs of clients with disabilities.

But no one sector can do this alone. Partnership allows foundations, private industry, and the public sector to leverage their advantages and overcome their limitations.

When the three work together, they maximize their impact and expedite progress for people with disabilities. This is the model that the Ruderman Family Foundation supports with its funding of Transitions to Work, a template for future job training programs for people with disabilities.

Those enrolled in Transitions to Work learn, help, and develop specific job skills within Hebrew Senior Life’s NewBridge on the Charles campus, a retirement community just outside of Boston. Following specific training and learning, individuals are qualified to work, either full-time or part-time, at NewBridge, and are matched with vacant positions when they become available.

This innovative program, with support from the Ruderman Family Foundation and Combined Jewish Philanthropies and run by Jewish Vocational Services, is instilling something even more valuable than job training: self-esteem.

This year, Governor Patrick visited NewBridge on the Charles and praised the program for its innovative approach. As he spoke to the young men and women in the program, he talked about the irony that despite this very rough economy, there are still thousands of jobs in the state that remain unfilled because there are no qualified candidates. We must not accept this statistic.

We believe that partnership is the answer. We accomplish more together. We encourage employers, foundations, and the public sector to explore opportunities for collaboration. Such partnerships are win-win, and we believe they are the sharpest arrow in our quiver to increase employment among people with disabilities.

Jay Ruderman is president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. Joanne F. Goldstein is secretary of Labor and Workforce Development in Massachusetts.

Winning Combinations: Apples and Honey, the Ruderman Family Foundation and Joshua Venture Group

By Guest Blogger Lisa Lepson, Executive Director, Joshua Venture Group

During this season, we speak often about the combination of apples and honey,  a mixture that is wonderfully complementary — the crispy, crunchy, sweet but tart apples dipped in a luscious, aromatic pot of sticky honey. When working for social change, we strive to create partnerships that are equally as complementary. The challenges that face us as a community are looming and entrenched, and often, only by reaching across institutional boundaries can we take steps to move the needle.

The desire to create larger impact and leverage communal resources led the Ruderman Family Foundation (RFF) to partner with Joshua Venture Group (JVG) this past summer to create a new Ruderman Fellowship, as part of JVG’s 2012-2014 Dual Investment Program. RFF’s commitment and focus on promoting the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the Jewish community through meaningful programs and public awareness, combined with JVG’s expertise in identifying and growing emergent ventures and leaders to support innovation, will foster an impactful new venture to flourish in this area.

Last week, it was announced that Elana Naftalin-Kelman, a San Francisco-based Jewish social entrepreneur and activist, had been named the 2012-2014 Ruderman Fellow. Naftalin-Kelman will receive more than $100,000 in funding and support over two years to launch an inclusion program for Jews with disabilities and their families. The program, Rosh Pina, will provide Jewish institutions across the U.S. with the opportunity to become “Cornerstone Certified” — to demonstrate to the community that the institution takes seriously ideas of inclusion and support of all types of Jews regardless of ability. The certification will require that Jewish institutions evaluate their physical structure, curriculum, family programming, language used, and leadership to fully include children with disabilities and their families.

Of more than 150 applications submitted for our program, one-fifth were focused on improving the lives of people with disabilities within the Jewish community. We were delighted to find highly passionate, creative, and committed individuals throughout the U.S. and Canada who aspired to change the current status quo around this issue.

Through a rigorous process that has been honed over a decade by JVG, and which tapped RFF’s content knowledge and networks, we chose Naftalin-Kelman and her venture to move the needle on full inclusion in our communities’ institutions. JVG and RFF will continue over the next two years to provide the early-stage support that young initiatives like Rosh Pina need. Like apples and honey, our combined support will usher in a sense of renewed energy, commitment, and courage to make significant change in this coming year and beyond.

— Lisa Lepson

The Down Syndrome ‘No-Fly Zone’ and the Journey to Inclusion

By Jo Ann Simons, Ruderman Family Foundation Disabilities Advisor and CEO Cardinal Cushing Centers

In case you missed the recent troubling account of the removal of Bede Vanderhost from an American Airlines flight, the airline will certainly hold to their version of the story that this teenager with Down syndrome, in spite have having regularly flown on dozens of flights, was deemed “not ready to fly.” His family, advocates for persons with disability and I see it as another example of the need to change public attitudes towards people with disabilities.

It brought me back to an event that I happened to me and frankly to an era that I had naively thought was over. Almost 30 years ago, I was seated at the very front of coach on a flight back from Florida with my 4-year-old son with Down syndrome and infant daughter, waiting for the cabin doors to close. Jon had dozed off. One row behind us and to our left, a loud family had taken their seats. They were creating quite a commotion and scene because they suddenly decided they wanted to get off the flight. In the midst of the chaos they were creating, someone asked the flight attendant what was causing the delay. Right there in front of me, she said, “There is a family with a child with Down syndrome and he is upset.”

I was incredulous. I interrupted her to say that I was the one with the child with Down syndrome and the family that was creating the unsafe situation was behind me. I don’t think I got an apology but, what I got was a lesson in prejudice and intolerance.

Just the mere sight of a person with Down syndrome triggered an assumption in that flight attendant 30 years ago and in the ground staff of American Airlines last week.

The solution lies in more inclusion of people with disabilities in life. I don’t know American Airlines hiring practices but, when you see people with disabilities in valued roles, perceptions change.

If I were the Vanderhosts, my lawsuit settlement would include real and measurable benchmarks  in hiring people with disabilities and in-service training of all employees about the diversity that makes our world great.

— Jo Ann Simons

Ten Innovators in Disabilities Services Community Win Ruderman Prize

Organizations in U.S., Israel, Russia, U.K. and Mexico Win Funding To Advance Their Work

The Ruderman Family Foundation announced today its 10 inaugural Ruderman Prize in Disability winners, which have been selected for fostering the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish community.

“In this first year of the Ruderman Prize in Disability program we have been tremendously encouraged with the number of organizations that have applied – and the quality and high achievement of the applicants,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation.  “Awarding the prizes is the genesis of a legacy that we believe will support and promote new opportunities for people with disabilities in the Jewish community.  Our goal is the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish community.”

Each winning organization will receive a grant of $20,000 to continue its work.   The Foundation received over 150 applications representing seven countries.

Following are the 2012 Ruderman Prize winners:

AKIM Israel: National Association for the Habilitation of Children and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

AKIM’s initiative enables people with developmental disabilities to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in significant and productive tasks.  The Israel Defense Forces and military service are among the core values of Israeli society and including persons with intellectual disabilities significantly enhances the self-confidence of these individuals, contributes to a better integration into society and establishes and nurtures positive attitudes toward those with disabilities among Israeli society. 

Reishit School  

The Reishit School in Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim is the only school in Israel which fully includes students with disabilities within a regular school setting.  Reishit’s “Promoting Inclusion through Environmental Awareness Activities” program includes all students as they interact with one another via experiential, hands-on activities that promote environmental awareness and an appreciation of the natural environment.

Jewish Family Center “Adain Lo”

Jewish Family Center “Adain Lo,” in St. Petersburg, Russia is among the largest provider of Jewish programs for children and families in St. Petersburg.  The center’s model of Jewish education with pluralism, a holistic approach to the family, creativity, independence and self-sufficiency is being studied by organizations in Israel and the US.  The Center was among the first organizations in Russia to hire people with disabilities and is a vocal advocate on this topic.

Kadima

Kadima, the Hebrew word for “forward”, is a forward-thinking organization located in the Huixquilucan municipality in Mexico.  Kadima’s objective is the inclusion and active participation of children and adults with disabilities in education, employment, family life, society and in community.  The award is for Kadima’s Hagamos Juntos Kadima Inclusion program, which has a strong record of effectiveness in fostering inclusion within the Jewish Community of Mexico.  Twenty-eight percent of their adult members have a regular job and 100% of their employers are companies or institutions within the Jewish community in Mexico.

Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston

Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters (JBBBS) of Greater Boston, founded in 1919, is New England’s oldest youth mentoring organization.  JBBBS received an award for its programs for those with disabilities, including Friend 2 Friend – a program that provides a Big Brother or Big Sister to an adult with a disability, allowing that individual to have a mentor and friend with whom they can enjoy their community.

 Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center of San Diego

The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center has received an award for its Inclusion Program, launched in 1995, which enables children with disabilities to participate in all programming, creating an awareness and education for all children regarding the importance of diversity and encouraging feelings of self-respect, confidence, acceptance and community.

MetroWest ABLE (New Jersey)

MetroWest ABLE’s winning program is Kehilla Shlema, a successful initiative to create a more inclusive and welcome environment in synagogues for children with disabilities.  Early work has included the creation of a committee of rabbis, congregational leaders, and professionals to identify the elements required to make congregations more welcoming and inclusive.

Norwood Ravenswood

Established in 1795, Norwood Ravenswood is the United Kingdom’s leading Jewish philanthropy.  It provides individual, person-centered services and support to over 7,000 children and adults with disabilities.  The organization is continually innovating with projects that promote inclusion, working with individuals to improve the quality of their lives and to achieve their goals.  Transitioning individuals to work has been a major and successful focus of Norwood Ravenswood.

SHALVA:  The Association for the Mentally & Physically Challenged Children in Israel

SHALVA will receive a Ruderman Prize for its Special Interview Project in which, as explained in its award application, “YNet (Israel’s largest electronic news and information source) and SHALVA recently joined forces to provide the public with a series of high profile, attitude-altering interviews of famous people,” conducted by two adults with disabilities.

Vertigo Dance Company

The internationally acclaimed Vertigo Dance Company of Israel will receive the award for The Power of Balance, a program in which professional dancers work with those with disabilities to develop “new, innovative language of movement.”  The organization states that the program has been an effective tool in fighting against discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices that have limited the inclusion of those with disabilities into society.

“These ten award winners offer a vision of a world with full inclusion, where people with disabilities have the same opportunities for employment, education, religion, and enjoyment of their communities as those without disabilities,” said Jay Ruderman.  “These grants will nourish and nurture that vision.”

The mission of the Ruderman Family Foundation is two-fold:  Promoting the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the Jewish community through meaningful programs and public awareness and in fostering cooperation and a stronger relationship between Israel and the U.S. Jewish community.