From the Columbus Jewish News:
“Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, known as JDAIM, will be observed in Columbus this February with a pair of virtual events hosted by a group of Jewish congregations coming together to bring about better knowledge and acceptance for those with disabilities.
On Feb. 7, families can come together to participate in an interactive online event, “How to Be an Inclusion Hero.” And on Feb. 21, Samuel J. Levine, a law professor at Touro Law Center in Central Islip, N.Y., will speak to adults about “Neurodiversity and Inclusion: Lessons from COVID-19 and from the Torah.”
Levine, the director of the Jewish Law Institute and founder of the Disability Rights and Inclusion Project at Touro College, said while many people with disabilities have been left out of the pandemic narrative, they are one of the communities that have been hit especially hard.
“Education, mental health and the physical effects of isolation, these are three areas where the rest of society is experiencing the challenges that people with disabilities have faced for years,” Levine told the CJN.
The month’s events are designed to help shed further light on these types of issues affecting those with disabilities, and to take steps toward creating a more inclusive society. Local congregations and organizations involved in the events include Congregation Agudas Achim, Kehilat Sukkat Shalom, Congregation Tifereth Israel, Chabad Columbus, Temple Israel, Congregation Beth Tikvah, Temple Beth Shalom, and Friendship Circle and LifeTown of Columbus.
“More and more communities are paying attention to this,” said Joanie Calem, education coordinator at Kehilat Sukkat Shalom in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus and community music educator who is helping organize the events. “We should do it all the time, but when we dedicate a month, it concentrates awareness.”
“Our goal,” Levine said, “is to help people with disabilities, such as people in the autism community, reach their potential to achieve a level of success, which in many cases is finding happiness in their lives.”
Calem also said children and adults play different roles in increasing inclusion – both of which are necessary to change society to become more accepting.
“The earlier you plant the seed with kids, the longer it will last,” she said. “That is though, only if what they learn is role-modeled by parents.”
As a teacher, Calem said she has seen first-hand the importance of acceptance on those with disabilities.“I’ve had students who were wired a little differently so I’ve seen how important it is to make a space comfortable for them to achieve success,” she said.
The first JDAIM events nationally took place more than a decade ago, and almost 10 years later the Columbus Jewish community created opportunities for local observance and celebration. The initial events were in-person, but this year will be different due to the pandemic. It’s a shift that brings with it it’s own unique set of challenges.
“We are aware,” Calem said, “that for some kids, online events are a distraction, which is why we’re making this as interactive as possible.”
For families to take advantage of this interactivity in the Feb. 7 event, they must register to receive an event box. These include a coloring book, comic book template, an “inclusion hero shield,” and other craft tools, all to be used during the 70-minute event. The event was made possible thanks to a number of community supporters and the JewishColumbus Foundation Miranda and Ben Weisbuch Special Education Fund.
“Hopefully, society will recognize there are individuals who are suffering and hopefully we can use these programs to build empathy,” Levine said.