Disability Awareness Month in the Jewish Community Iyar 5767 (April 19-May 17, 2007)
"Gadol k'vod habriot - Great is the value of human dignity"
The Special Needs Professional Committee of the Greater Boston Jewish Community is sponsoring the area's second Disability Awareness Month, in cooperation with Synagogue Council of Massachusetts. Disability Awareness Month will focus on issues of awareness and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish community life. Participation in Disability Awareness Month affirms our commitment to making Judaism accessible - programmatically as well as physically - to ALL members of the community.
People with disabilities include those with visible disabilities, readily discerned as they walk down the street, and those with invisible disabilities, whose special needs only emerge as you interact or whose disabilities may only be evident in a crisis situation. The Special Needs Professional Committee members, through their work, reach out to individuals with mild to severe disabilities. Such individuals include people with mental retardation, mental illness, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, physical challenges and multiple disabilities. Committee members help create programs and/or offer support for children, teens, and adults with special needs and their families. Their efforts focus on educational, social, recreational, vocational, housing and spiritual needs of people with disabilities.
To encourage your synagogue to participate in Disability Awareness Month, we have created a number of materials we hope you will find helpful. Included are: "Welcoming People with Disabilities Into Your Synagogue," tips and resources for you and your synagogue to become involved this month and afterwards; "Communication Guidelines" developed by the Anti-Defamation League; a disability perspective on Torah readings for the month of Iyar and other d'vrei Torah; and a listing of Greater Boston Jewish community programs serving people with disabilities.
We have also created a calendar for Disability Awareness Month; if your synagogue or organization is planning an event for or about people with disabilities and falling between April 19 and May 17, 2007, please send an email to director@yesodot.org and we will include the event in the calendar below.
For more information about Disability Awareness Month, contact Sue Wolf-Fordham at Yesodot (617) 399-3299 or director@yesodot.org.
Synagogue Council Directory
Synagogue Council Directory The Synagogue Directory contains information about accessibility for Massachusetts synagogues, such as handicap parking spaces, wheelchair accessibility, availability of large print siddurs, TDD and audio enhancement. http://www.uscj.org/accessibility
Special Needs Professional Committee of the Boston Jewish Community
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Yesodot
JVS
29 Winter Street 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
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