By Erin Beser, Jewish Learning Venture
Happy Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month!
Meet Aubrey, Stephen and Mimi, who live with disability and volunteer together at the Brodsky Center through Jewish Family & Children’s Services. Adults with disabilities face discrimination in employment and live with greater social isolation, but at JFCS, Aubrey, Stephen and Mimi find joy in using their strengths to make a difference in the community.
We hope you’ve enjoyed meeting our champions of access who use their strengths, skills and talents to make the Greater Philadelphia community a more inclusive place.
You can join them. Keep Learning.
Words matter and, at the same time, it might feel like the language around disability constantly evolves to reflect new cultural realities. In our sacred tradition, the entire world was created with words. The words we use can open up a world of access or shut down the opportunity to learn and grow. When our language stays stuck in past myths about disability, it doesn’t help us uphold stronger cultural values and tell new stories. Listen to people with the lived experience of disability and follow their lead. Here’s a great dictionary if you need a place to start. If you stay curious and kind, your words will catch up.
Yet when we only change our words, and not our priorities, budgets, and leadership structures, the world doesn’t change very much. The Jewish community should care about people with disabilities every day of the year, not just every day in February. The work of belonging belongs to all of us.