Hi, everyone my name is Meredith Polsky. I'm the National Director of Institutes
and Training at Matan and we're so glad you could join us today for a webinar
with Ruti Regan entitled Ingathering Disabled Exiles in Israel Education in
preparation for Yom Ha'Atzmaut. Ruti Regan is a fifth year rabbinical student
at the Jewish Theological Seminary and she's Matan's Rabbinic Disability Scholar
in Residence. She brings many years of experience from both a Jewish and
disabilities perspective and we're so excited that she is conducting this
webinar for us today. In the chat box on your screen, you will see a link to the
live captions that are being broadcast throughout the webinar as well as a link
to the slides which will also be seen on your screen. >>Meredith, I don't see the link
for the captions. Can you just repaste it? >> I will repaste it.
And this webinar is being recorded so that
you could watch it again or share with your colleagues.
And here is the live
caption link once again. And I am happy to now turn it over to Ruti. >>All right.
So, I'm just loading the captions so I can monitor them, make sure it's all good.
Um so hi, everyone. Today, we're going to be talking about Ingathering Disabled
Exiles in Israel Education and we're going to be talking about this because
this is such a crucial part of identity formation in a lot of our communities. So
first thing we're going to do is just briefly review a couple of pieces of how
we approach inclusion in general. Are my
slides showing up? Okay, awesome. Um so general way we're approaching
inclusion in all aspects of education, in Jewish education, is that we think that
inclusion is often more a matter of looking for the right questions and
getting in the habit of developing our question-asking skills than it is of
knowing answers in advance as important as that can be. So, for the
purposes we're considering today in Israel education, what questions do we
need to be asking about disability accessibility and inclusion in order to
build the kinds of communities you want to build and teach people the things
want to learn? So again, as usual with any type of accessible, inclusive education,
there are three areas we need to consider. One is access to participation,
like, are people there? Are people able to do stuff? One is access to educational
content. Are people learning the material, engaging with the material?
What's facilitating that? And access to group membership, belonging. So just,
participation is being there and doing stuff. So questions we could be asking
along those lines are, when we're doing Israel education activities, are
disabled learners, in fact, present? Are they, in fact, taking an active role? And
are they interacting with others, with and without disabilities, in reciprocal
ways when interactive activities are happening, as most of our educate... Israel
education activities are very experiential and interaction-based? So
that's participation. It's kind of one aspect of inclusive education we should
be monitoring. Other aspect is learning things. Being present and actively
participating is not the same thing as learning the content. And sometimes when
we differentiate activities or building access to participation,
it doesn't necessarily translate into the content being available to all of
the learners. So, a question we should be asking on that regard, is what is it
we're trying to teach our learners or students about Israel? Are learners with
disabilities, in fact, learning that material? Are they expressing opinions,
contributing to the conversation, being taken seriously? Are others responding to
the not just their participation, but to the content and opinions they're
expressing? Are they learning the material and engaging with it and how do
you know? Because it's easy to make assumptions. So I think... can Meredith, can
you mute the not mute participants? Um so
if people are actively participating, look engaged, that there ..that it's the
same as learning the material and it isn't always. So we always have to ask
not only are they getting it but how do we know? So group membership is what
we're going to focus on in large part in this webinar and group membership can be
one of the hardest aspects of inclusive education to get right. Because group
membership is about belonging. It's about being part of the group. It's about
equality. It's about being there on equal terms with other learners in a way that
people take take for granted and reciprocate. So group membership
regarding Israel education and I think this is, since identity formation is so
related to Israel can be so crucial, is something that we need to be monitoring.
You need to be asking, what are the shared experiences that define group
membership? What are the shared stories that define group membership? So in this
case, in our Israel education case, how are learners with disabilities sharing
in Israel related experiences that define group membership and how our
learners with disabilities sharing in Israel related stories that define group
membership? And again, that's complicated. So let's talk about it. So, in a lot of
our communities, not all but most of them, and I imagine most of the communities
represented by people who are on this chat, Israel is a really important, core
component of Jewish identity. And stories about Israel, about Zionism, about the
miraculous rebirth or our relationship to Israel or the accomplishments, that's
having some sort of relationship to that, whether it's unequivocally
positive, whether it's critical, regardless of which story it is, in most
of our communities a story about Israel and our relationship to Israel is a key
part of Jewish identity and Jewish identity formation. So a question we need
to be asking is are we including everyone in the stories we're telling
about Israel? Who is being left out? And I'll bracket this by saying this is not
an exclusively disability related problem. I think that we often leave
women out of our Israel related storytelling. I think we often leave
Reform, Reform Jews, liberal Jews, conservative Jews, Reconstructionist
renewal, etc. out of the Israel storytelling. And I think that also
creates problems. But I'm gonna focus on the disability specific aspects of this
narrative issued for purposes of this 'cause it's a topic. So we want to talk
about shared storytelling and look at what are the stories that we're telling.
Who's part of those stories and who isn't? And I think a question to consider,
too, related to this, is what are the consequences when people don't see Jews
like themselves represented in Israel stories? And what are the consequences
when Jews only see Jews like themselves represented in Israel stories? And I
think that there are a number of consequences that we should be
considering because it impacts perceived equality, who's really seen as fully
Jewish and who's really seen as having a full stake in our communities. So one
example of this is stories about making aliyah. A lot of our communities, one of
the stories that we tell, very emphatically often, is all Jews can move
to Israel if they want to. Some communities the story is you know all
Jews really should live in Israel and that should be your goal ideally. Maybe
even you're doing something wrong if you don't want to move there,
don't plan to move there. Yet, sometimes, our stories about making aliyah are along
along the lines of, so you're a guy, you're going to go to the army, you
might be in a combat unit ,you might do something else. And or you're a woman, you
might go to the army, you might not depending on your age but you're gonna
have kids and get this kind of job or that kind of job. And we don't often tell
very many stories about people with disabilities making aliyah or family
especially not adults with disabilities making aliyah of their own initiative
rather than being brought along of the family. And so I think that that can go
into learners with disabilities not seeing themselves in the story of I am a
person who could if I so choose, either now or when I grow up or when I
hit some other landmark, maybe when I have kids, if I so choose, I am a Jew and
that means I could move to Israel. People don't necessarily see themselves in that
story which can be very isolating. People don't necessarily see their peers as
part of that story which can affect how they see them as Jews or not in ways
that can be very subtle but are very impactful nevertheless. So part of being
included in storytelling is being included in the past, the present, and the
future. So if we're telling stories about Zionism, in early Zionism, early
supporters of Israel, early opponents of Zionism, early early anything related to
Zionism, people with disabilities are everywhere. So I think it stands to
reason that people with disabilities, Jews with disabilities in the past, had
something to say about this and had some part in it. I haven't heard a lot of
those stories which I think can send messages about connection to the past.
Likewise, stories about pioneers who made aliyah and built Israel. You know,
the early yishuv, the early settlement of Israel, was not a safe place and if
,people didn't come with the disabilities a lot of people acquired them through
their settlement of Israel, through their building with Israel, through their the
early battles for Israel. And I think that, for the sake of accuracy, but also
for the sake of telling stories that can hold our whole communities, it's
important to talk about that sometimes. Again, when we tell stories about what Israel
is like now, about our present in Israel, are we telling stories about Israelis
with disabilities, Palestinians with disabilities, Israel advocates with
disabilities who don't live in Israel? Who's part of the story? When we talk
about the possible futures of Israel, the possible futures of relationship with
Israel, are people with disabilities included in that future in the effort to
build it? Um so if we look at Hebrew schools and
experiential education narratives which again has a lot of how we transmit
stories about Israel in Hebrew schools, one activity that's really popular is
the passport to Israel activity. And passport to Israel activities are a part
in part a way to show kids what Israel's about and in part a way to teach
them that you are a Jew and part of what that means is that someday, you could
visit Israel. Someday, you probably should and will visit Israel. You're a Jew and
that means you're part of the community of people who visit Israel. Even if you
never do it. And here's a taste of that. So in Israel, in passport to Israel
activities, it's kind of two aspects of that. One is kind of the obvious one of
do our learners have a way to participate in the activity or at least
significant parts of the activities in ways that are substantive. That's the
participation level which also affects group membership in content. From a
content level, are they learning to see themselves in that category? And from an
access to to group membership perspective, are they sharing in the
story? Something that can happen is that not only can they participate in the
activities but what are those activities representing in real life and are they
seeing themselves as people who could really do those things in real life at
some undefined future point. For example, if we're doing a virtual 'let's visit
Masada' activity, are we mentioning that there are ways to get up there that do
not involve climbing a lot of stairs? If we're talking about going to the beach,
are we talking about different ways people could go to the beach? We're
talking about going to the shuk, do we talk about access?
Do we make it real for not only all of our learners who are in the room but for
people who our learners know exist in the world? Are we sending the message that
you could visit Israel and do stuff there? And are we sending the message
that you and your peers with disabilities are Jews who can visit
Israel and do stuff there? And actions speak louder than words
and the way we frame these activities really matters in terms of identity
formation and equality between peers. And so, related to the greater story of
Israel trips and seeing yourself as in the category of I am a Jew and that
means that I will visit Israel or could, um, story of Israel trips is a crucial
part of our shared narrative in a lot of communities. For instance, all of our
eighth graders go on the Israel trip. All congregants are encouraged to come on
the Israel solidarity mission. This pluralistic trip to Israel is for
everybody um and we would really like to encourage all of our young people to go
on Nativ or some other post high school gap year Israel program. So are
Jews with disabilities part of this story we're telling about we ... Jews go
on Israel trips or you'll go on an Israel trip when you're older. So let's
consider the eighth grade example. So the eighth grade example is not only
important to eighth graders. The eighth grader example matters as soon as a kid
enters the school. And, in some cases, as soon as they have a sibling who enters
the school. Because kindergarteners are included in the story of 'when you are in
eighth grade, you will go on the Israel trip' because that's what eighth graders
do and that's kind of what your education is leading
up to. There can be an elephant in the room where people either know they won't
be included or assume they won't be included or know that their peers won't
be included or assume that their peers won't be included. And that, [coughing] excuse me,
that has a profound impact on how Jews with disabilities are and are not
perceived as equal parts of the school. Even when they're not anywhere close to
being in eighth grade and even after they're in eighth grade. Because if it's
a key culminating story of the school, being left out of it has consequences
every time the story is relevant. So access being explicit about inclusive
intentions and following up on them every time the story is raised and then
this is an important part of the conversation, can be important. And some
considerations I'm not going to go into in depth but for planning accessible
Israel trips are, you know, it's not we can't go there because of his needs or
we can't go there because of her needs. It's there are more awesome things
to do in Israel than it is possible to do on one trip and we are taking the
subset of awesome Israel things that make sense for our group to do together.
Like it's not because of someone's needs, it's because we're a group and we value
everyone and there's a lot of stuff worth doing. And talking about it sooner
rather than later, building relationships with tour guides, finding somebody who is
willing to listen and take the issue seriously takes some doing- really
important. So if you don't talk about access, people will assume it's not there
because their experience is that they're left out and that 'everyone' does not
usually mean them. especially when it's difficult
or involves efforts. So questions to ask are when you have descriptions of your
Israel trip, say on your website, what are those materials say about access? When
you have registration forms for your Israel trip,
what are those forms say about access needs? Um when, how are you discussing
accessibility planning in groups of eighth graders, seventh graders, people
who are planning, new parents who come into the school and new kids who come
into the school? You can't assume it goes without saying because it never does.
Um and even if it did go without saying, it's part of the storytelling. And
sometimes, you don't find a solution to bring everyone on the trip. It's always
important to try. But even if somebody can't come on and if somebody can't or
doesn't come on the trip for whatever reason, it's really important to realize
that that matters for more than the week or 10 days or month or however long
it is they're there. It affects how they're part of the story. And there, and thinking
about how are they included in the story if they're not on the trip? There are a
number of possible answers to that. It's likely to be complicated and they all
involve acknowledging that this is not an okay situation, that it's not their
fault, and it's that it and that it's okay for them to have feelings about it.
Um it's always part of it but there's a number of possible answers and
approaches to that question. So and related to that, in addition to being in the
category of people who go on Israel trips, it's also important to be in the
category of people who could be Israelis and who have something in common with
various Israelis. So questions to ask around this are our students meeting
Israeli adults with disabilities? Do, if there's a program with shlichim, are
there ever shlichim with disabilities? If you're doing a pen pal program, are any of
the participants in it disabled? Are you building any connections with Israelis
with disabilities? Um those also affect identity formation because part of
seeing yourself as having a connection with Israel is building commonalities
with stories that involve Israelis. And if people don't ever see or interact
with or hear from Israelis who they have these things in
common with, sends a message. And if people see that their peers don't have
these interactions or if they see or if they'd ever see any Israelis who are disabled
like their peers, it also sends a message about what it means to be a Jew with a
disability and who's part of the story and who isn't. You know, it's also... it's a
adults are important. Peers are also important. One thing to keep in mind on
Israel trips is that meeting peers with disabilities can be very important; won't
necessarily happen automatically, is something to think about.
And so getting deeper into this, who sees himself in the story? So this slide
has a picture of a boy who's using crutches, a girl who's using a wheelchair
and a kid of I think indeterminate gender who's using a wheelchair who's
also using a switch interface for their computer. And questions to ask about
these Jewish kids who are in a Jewish education program participating in
Israel education, have they ever seen pictures of Israeli kids or adults who look like
them? If they're sighted. Have you ever heard a story of an Israeli who uses
adaptive equipment, doing things besides being disabled? Like did the Israelis in
the stories have a story that went beyond, "Hi, my name is Liora and I use a
wheelchair and I'm here to teach disability awareness" as opposed to like
"I'm Liora and I do stuff and here's the things I'm doing because I'm a kid and
one of those things is using a wheelchair and being Israeli." Is their
story about something other than Israel's accomplishments in medical
technology? Is it about them as a person who does things that involve being Jewish
and Israeli? So when the story of Israel is told,
do these kids see themselves as part of it? Do they see anyone like them in it? And
do their peers see it? So how do students see each other in the stories? Again this
is getting back to the thing about peers and about group membership. When these
kids, like this is a picture of a class, kids at desks, at a table, there's a
blackboard, some kids have visible disabilities, some
do not, this is like an inclusive classroom. So in this group of mixed kids
here's tells a story about kids in Israel, who are the characters in that
story? Are any of the kids, in the characters and the shared kids in Israel
story, wheelchair users? Any of them use other adaptive equipment? Do any of the
characters in the kids in Israel story have intellectual disabilities, learning
disabilities, ADHD, chronic illness or an Ashkenazi genetic condition or a Sephardi
genetic condition for that regard? Are there, in this shared story of kids
in Israel, any of the characters in the story autistic? Common in Israel, too.
Blind? Braille exists in Hebrew. Deaf? There's Israeli sign language and deaf
Israelis and deaf Israeli culture, too. Otherwise disabled or having
disabilities? And again, that's part of the shared storytelling whether or not there
are kids with identified disabilities in your class and especially and the stakes
are especially high if there are. But in these days where people are
institutionalized and segregated less frequently, every kid probably has
someone in their life who has a disability.
Every Jewish kid probably knows a Jew with a disability so the stakes are
pretty high for shared narrative regardless. But they're especially high
for kids with disabilities and they're pretty high for adults with disabilities,
too. So what are they imagining? When these kids, again, same group of kids, when
these kids think about kids who live in Israel, what kind of community do they
imagine? Does the world they're imagining include kids with
disabilities like they and their peers have? Does it include the adults that
they and their peers, if they live to adulthood, will grow into? Because that's
part of what it means to be part of the group, part of the story. Is the story
about you? Are people like you in the story? So who is part of our story here
in the diaspora in Hebrew school classrooms, adult education, whatever
setting we're in. Who's part of our story as it's mediated through Israel
education? When kids hear Israel is the Jewish state, what do they mean by that?
When they hear Israel is the Jewish state, are they able to see themselves as
fully Jewish in conversation with that? And again, I think this is also an issue
for liberal Jews in general. Are we telling stories that allow liberal Jews
to see themselves as fully Jewish in conversation with the Jewish state? When
we tell stories about, and I think also it's an issue with girls and women, are
we telling those stories, too? Connected to that it's a really big issue with
kids with disabilities. When they hear 'the Jewish state,' do any of the Jews in
the Jewish state have disabilities? Are they able to see one another as fully
Jewish in conversation with that? And that has pervasive effects in both
Israel education and every Jewish subject and interaction. Part of being part of
the story is about being part of the conversation. So we need to ask who's
part of the conversation and who's left out? So being part of the conversation is
about, is in part about being listened to and in part about having topic having
questions and opinions that are informed by your perspective taken seriously
and treated as on topic. So this again, on this slide, there's a picture of a girl in a
wheelchair asking a question and there's also a picture of a brain which is
Symbol Stix's abstract symbol for a cognitive or mental impairment. So this
girl or other kids, during the class discussions about Israel, is she called
on and taking seriously? When she asks questions related to disability, does she
get an answer or is she told we're talking about Israel now? When being a girl or
having a disability or being a girl with a disability is relevant to what she
thinks or feels about the topic at hand, if she allowed to say so? And does she
get a response? Is there an expectation that people will engage with her
statements, questions, perspectives, when they are informed by disability? Just as
much as when they are not? Just as much as there's an expectation that teachers
and peers engage with the points each other make, in general? Is she in the
shared experience of being part of the Israel conversation? For example, and
here's a teacher and the same girl, say the teacher's telling the story about Israel.
All Israelis go to the army. If she asks, what would I do in the army, does she get
an answer or does she get an awkward pause and a subject change? Um if the
teacher doesn't know, do they fudge, avoid the question, do they say I don't
know but I'll find out? And if they say that, do they actually go find out and
follow up on it? Because being somebody whose questions are taken seriously is
really key to being part of Israel education and shared identity formation.
So what about this one? All Israelis go to the army.
Can you go to the army if you can't read? Because sometimes, our communities are
comfortable talking about physical disability but really uncomfortable
talking about cognitive disability, mental impairment or learning impairment.
And so I think thinking about disabilities both the general category
and something that includes a lot of specific categories is important. Like
when kids ask questions like this, are they treated as on topic? Do they get an
answer? What if another student in the class asked? So all Israelis go to the
army. Do people with CP go to the army?, asks a kid who doesn't have it but maybe
knows someone who does or has a classmate who does. Is there an awkward pause and a
subject change or does it get talked about? If it gets talked about, is it in a
way that's informed? Is it followed up on? Does it include everyone in the
conversation, and where is the word we used where i8s the word they used?
Um so
So I'm gonna change the subject a bit in a minute so I want to pause and see um does any...
At this point, I'm going to pause for questions. You can ask in the chat box.
Is anyone want to ask anything? I see that Jason made a comment that it is often
not known by the school that this is done on 8th grade trips if asked about
specifically. For example, Birthright trips in URJ, OU and Ramah semester
are now accessible but many of these trip's accommodations are specific to the
trip that year. It's a really good point which is that a lot of programs are
either accessible or will be made accessible and have a lot of good work
done on being accessible but don't necessarily make that known and the
school might not know. So first of all, if you're involved in planning a trip or an
activity, it's important to not only be committed to inclusion but talk about it
in all of your materials, on all of your flyers and not just the disability or
inclusion specific ones. Talk about it with all of the schools and programs you
reach out to not just the ones that specifically serve kids with
disabilities. And similarly, when you are a school that makes referrals and that
is in conversation and collaboration with other organizations, talk it's
important to talk to them about inclusion and accessibility and to make
that part of the ongoing conversation, not wait for it to come up with a
specific kid. And make it known to your school that that's your policy and that
you're having those conversations. So thank you for bringing that up.
Does anyone else question/comment want to say something?
Okay, well, if anybody would like to ask a question, I'm monitoring the chat box so
feel free.
Okay. So alright, so different kind of story related to conversations is about
existing in Hebrew. And this can be easily overlooked in some ways
especially in communities that are not Hebrew speaking. But in many of our
communities outside of Israel, Hebrew is part of Jewishness regardless of Hebrew
proficiency. Jews that... Jews who see Hebrew as part of Jewishness need
connection to Hebrew speaking culture that affirms Jews like them even if they
don't speak Hebrew, for the same reasons Hebrew exposure is generally important.
And having awareness that conversations are happening by and for and about Jews
like you in Hebrew, affirms Jewishness. Believing that they aren't happening is
very isolating and again this is whether or not you speak Hebrew. So questions to
ask about this are: do your students believe that people like them are part
of the conversation in Hebrew? Do they believe that there are Hebrew words that
could describe their experience? And do they believe that all of their
classmates are part of the conversation in Hebrew? And how do you know what they
think about this and what experiences they're having. And I'm gonna get to an
example of this a bit later on in the slides. But in Hebrew speaking programs,
when kids are expected to gain Hebrew proficiency, it's very important that
it's very important that there be disability related vocabulary, literature,
exposure in Hebrew speaking programs for the same reasons that we need to teach
kids, both kids and adults both masculine and feminine Hebrew
Hebrew verbs whether it needs to be stories about a broad range Israelis. Because
when people are expected to speak Hebrew, it's important that they be able to
describe themselves and that they be able to be understood when they're doing
so. And also it's not just a personal, it's about being part of the
conversation and about realizing the Jews with disabilities who you interact
with are part of the conversation in Hebrew and exist in Israel. So getting
back to question of storytelling, more generally, so questions to
ask when we're talking about storytelling and inclusive storytelling, is what kinds
of Israel stories are important in your community? Because they're not the same in
every community. For some communities, it's about, you know, Israel is a light unto
nations, here's the social justice. For some communities, it's about the army; for
some communities, it's about a religious, theological beginning of our redemption.
For some communities, it's a lot of them but knowing what the core stories are in
your community is part of planning for inclusion because it doesn't happen
automatically. So what's Israel stories are important
in your community? Do you know how Israelis with disabilities are part of
those stories? And, if applicable, depending on the community, do you know
how Palestinians with disabilities are part of those stories? Because if our
story about Israel includes the Palestinians then it matters that some
Palestinians are female, some of them have disabilities, some of them are
female and have disabilities. So what are the stories? Do we know the disability
related aspects of that story? And do we know how Jews who are not living in
Israel are part of those stories? Because we tell the story of Israel and Israel
advocacy as a story that includes Jews in general.
And that can't just be a story about a small, narrow range of like upper-class
men who do not have disabilities. It has to be our whole community. So do you know
the disability related stories? Do you talk about what you know? When and how?
And what are the stories that you need to learn or would like to learn? So again,
just like when we talk about inclusion, our advice is focusing on and focusing
on 'look for the questions' rather than 'try to know all the answers.' Is that
looking for looking for the stories is that disabled people are everywhere,
disability is part of many stories. We sometimes filter it out but it's there
and it matters. And you can find you can find out a lot by looking at disability
related organizations and you can also find out a lot by just being in the
habit of paying attention and asking questions when it's appropriate to do so
um Jason points out that disability experience is different in Israel and in
the United States which is very true, which is why, and I think that's true of
all this, all experiences, are very different in Israel and in the United
States. So I think that given that people are aware of the fact that experiences
are different, broadly across the spectrum in Israel, if they don't see a
place where disability is part of that story and part of that range of
difference, it can lead to not realizing it's there and thinking, like in a kind of
visceral an implicit way, that one of the differences between the US
and Israel is that disability isn't really a thing there. People don't put it
that way, usually, but it's kind of this felt, implicit thing which is why I think
that being aware of what's going on in Israel and what that relationship is is
important on that level and a number of levels. So, for instance, in the category
of looking for the stories, when you find out about an interesting Israeli
actor, author, scientist, activist, whatever, you get in the habit of looking
at their bio. Notice if it mentions disability and point that out sometimes.
Because people with disabilities do things besides be disabled and we can
have a cognitive bias and think that if people did a thing, then they don't have
a disability. But it's not always true and sometimes all you need to do to tell
more stories is to notice that aspect of the story that's already looming large
in our community. So when you watch TV, Israel related
media, just keeping an eye out browsing and it having being one of the things
that you browse were in stores. When you go to museums, paying attention to
whether there's anything explicitly disability related as well as access
feature. And really there's a lot of places and it's part of a lot of stories
on a lot of levels and sometimes all we have to do to start learning the story
is to just get in the habit of paying attention. Which doesn't mean there isn't
value in proactively seeking it out because there is but both of those
things are part of it. So some examples of conversation of questions that it
might sometimes be appropriate to ask in conversations with Israeli or Israel
related organizations are things like: does your civil rights division work on
disability rights issues? Doesn't go without saying. Some do,
some don't. And if you ask the question, then sometimes the answer is yes and
that's one kind of story. Sometimes, the answer is no and that's another kind of
story. So are there any kids with disabilities
in the school? Are there any students with disabilities in this college? Do you
hire employees with disabilities? Are there any people with disabilities in
leadership roles? What do you do to ensure access? Do you have a
non-discrimination policy? Questions like that can tell you a lot of stories that
are worth knowing and don't necessarily have to be the primary aspect of every
conversation where you learn a story like that that's worth knowing.
So give an example of that, I, you know, am generally in the habit of trying to
pay attention and look for the stories. And one thing I found doing that came
from a science museum in Haifa. I was in the museum store and I saw this set of
things. And these are a couple of books and they came from an Israeli ADHD
organization. And the big the title of the big book is Ani B'seder which means
it's kind of a pun on I'm okay and I'm organized. The smaller books are a book
of tips for parents and a book of tips for teachers. It's either from or
attributed to kids with ADHD because sometimes things that say they come from
kids with disabilities really don't but sometimes they do and that's what this
says it is. Um so just knowing that this exists exists and seeing it there is
just shows certain stories. For example, one story that I learned from that is
that there's a Hebrew-speaking organization that promotes a positive
view of kids and adults with ADHD. Some of their materials address people with
ADHD directly as opposed to just caregivers, teachers, parents. Very much
doesn't go without saying because a lot of cognitive disability related
organizations only address professional caregivers and not people who are
dealing with the disability themselves. Another story is they have a lot of tips.
Some of the tips are about school. Some of the tips are about feeling good about
yourself as a person with ADHD rather than being crushed by it. And I went and
looked at their website and the website has sections for children and teenagers,
for adults, and for students and soldiers. Which is something I hadn't thought about
before because in the United States military, ADHD is disqualifying and I
hadn't heard of Israeli soldiers with ADHD but now I know that there's at
least some conversation about that. And that's at this point all I know but I
know where to go to look for more should it be something I want to know more
about. And getting back to the issue of existing in Hebrew, knowing that there
are Hebrew language ADHD materials matters and it matters Jewishly
whether or not people understand what they say. Because it's about being part
of the Israel story and about realizing that you could, if you learned Hebrew,
have a conversation about your experiences and your body and your brain
that would be understood. And so these are some affirmation magnets that also
came from this organization that say like powerful language that's affirming.
And one story is that, you know, Jews, or at least Hebrew speakers, are saying
these things in Hebrew in Israel in order to encourage adults to value kids
with ADHD. One of the things one of the magnets says is 'Believe because the child
doesn't always believe in themself,' 'Celebrate even the small successes,'
'Investigate perhaps you will learn something new.' If you're watching this
webinar and you're teaching students, it's not unlikely that you have students who
would benefit from knowing that these sentiments exist in Hebrew and these
magnets are there even if they don't understand them and aren't likely to. So
another kind of story, disability related story, is the story of Bizchut which is
an organization, the Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities. And
I think that disability is a human rights activism story. It's a story that needs
to be told more in general and it's a story that really needs to be told about
Israel in communities where social activism is part of relationship to
Israel. And we're seeing Israel as a place where there either is or could be
justice as part of our relationship telling stories about that that included
disability. It's part of building inclusive community. So Bizchut
is an advocacy organization protecting the legal, human and civil rights of
Israelis with disabilities. One of their slogans is bizchut v'lo b'chesed.
By rights and not by charity, which tells a different story than most
of the disability related news stories that I think we tend to see coming out
of Israel. Um and I think that Jews who live in the United States are by and
large still struggling for their rights and knowing that that conversation is
also happening in Israel in Hebrew with Jews with disabilities, I think matters.
So and Bizchut stories are about rights, rights violations, equality and
rights successfully defended. So in some of the stories that are the Bizchut
stories, are Bizchut successfully fought for the voting rights of a lot of
Israelis with disabilities by winning, in part because they won a really
important court case in 1990. Bizchut efforts created a law that is really
innovative in Israel and not present in very many other countries if any where they
developed communication methods for people with disabilities with cognitive
or communication problems to be able to testify in court. And they were
instrumental in advocating for a law that protected the right to access
communication support in criminal and civil investigations in a way that's
really been game-changing for people's ability to report abuse and testify in a
way that's accepted in court. And a number of other things - they're also
involved in inclusion in schools, supported decision making, limiting
guardianship, a number of other things. These are stories about rights and about
activism and about equality and about things that matter and that are really
resonant with our values in a lot of communities.
Um so okay, so so yeah, I'm gonna skip that one can't read it it's on your
slides. So a related caution I would advise about telling Israel stories
is I think that we need to think about when we tell Israel related disability
stories, who is the story actually about and are the people with disabilities in
the stories characters or are they objects illustrating someone else's stories? If
Jews with disabilities, Israelis with disabilities are speaking for themselves
in the story, chances are the story's about them.
If not, the story is probably about something or someone else. Like what are
the Jews and what are the Jews with disabilities in the stories think about
it? How do we know? Did anyone ask them? If only parents or therapists are quoted
or some other type of people, the story's probably about the parents and
therapists and not the people with disabilities. And those are also stories
that need to be told but it really does matter who the story is about.
If non-disabled Jews are described as having opinions and disabled Jews are only
described as having needs, the story's probably about the people who have
opinions. You know, if Jews with disabilities wrote the story, it's probably about them.
These are questions that I think we need to be asking. Who is the story about and
how do we know? So and I think the is a question to ask about a lot of
iconic disability stories related to Israel. Because there's a really big phenomenon
in pro-Israel advocacy that says you know we don't want to see Israel's just
about the war, it's about so many other things. A lot of times that story is
about disability related technology um and a lot of times people with
disabilities are not really in that story. A lot of times the story is this
miraculous new product of Israeli genius fixed disability and relieved
everyone's suffering and now they're not disabled anymore. And a lot of times
questions we need to be asking are, what are Israelis with disabilities think about
that technology? Is anyone using it beyond the PR video? How useful do
people find it? And also what do Israelis who use that technology think about
their lives? What do they think about their lives before the tech? What do they
think about their lives with the tech? What is their story,
beyond the story of a smart Israeli invented tech? Another question to ask is
were people with disabilities involved in developing the technology? And are Israelis
really still expect respected when technology is useful but disability
stays important? Um another iconic Israel story that I think there's some talking
about is the stories about the IDF Autistic Unit I think have been reported
on a lot in the last year or so. And a question to ask about those stories who
are they about? Are any of them written by the autistic soldiers? Um when autistic
soldiers are quoted, I've seen a lot of quotes along the lines of 'I find it
very relaxing.' And it being military service, I have
a certain amount of doubt about that. So questions are, are the autistic soldiers
allowed to say anything beyond I like it, I feel empowered, I feel
included? Are they allowed to have opinions that are nuanced, complex,
different from each other? When a soldier struggles in school and other aspects of
life before the army are described, who's talking? Is it ever them or is it
always their parents and teachers? Because most of us who have had
struggles in schools or have, who have been discriminated against or have had these
experiences, have opinions on them and they don't always match our parents
opinions. And being part of the story is being listened to and speaking for
yourself. Real autistic people are not interchangeable. Do the stories reflect
this? Or do they treat the autistic soldiers are more or less
interchangeable? Do different soldiers have different feelings, opinions
perspectives, experiences? What autistic people who aren't part of the program
think about it? And when people talk about autistic strengths and weaknesses,
are any of the people who are involved in telling that story people who can say we
are I? Or are they all people who say 'they?' So again, who's talking, who's being heard
and who is the story about? Inclusive storytelling means that we find stories
that are about the people who they're about. So one place to go for autistic,
there's an autistic buy-and- for organization,
community of the people on the autistic spectrum in Israel, aci dot israel dot org
Some of their stories are about rights. Some of theirs are about community.
They're pretty different from Bizchut in that regard. Um one of their stories
is that autism should be celebrated as part of human diversity which is not a
universal opinion shared by all autistic people but it is a common story that
needs to be heard. In 2016, they celebrated Autistic Pride Day. It's
something that existed and is a story worth knowing. So just to recap all of this:
Who's the story about? Is the story about Israelis with disability or are
they objects in someone else's story? Do pro-Israel stories related to disability
take the perspectives of disabled Israelis seriously? What do Israelis with
disabilities think about the stories? How do you know?
Do your students and peers see themselves in any of these stories and how do you
know? And so again, in most of our communities, relationship to Israel is a
really important part of Israel identity and part of the shared, the relationship
to Israel developed through shared experience and shared narrative. So
students with disabilities need to see connections to Israelis in these stories
and all students need to see their peers in shared Israel narrative. And so when
the story of Israel is told as in a way that this... when this story of Israel is
told without disabled Israelis, disabled Jews, it separates people from their
communities in ways that I think have a lot of consequences. And so thinking
about how do we put people back in the narrative? How do we tell these stories
and strengthen our communities is, I think, part of our job as inclusive
educators. And I don't acknowledge here that this is easier said than done. um
A lot of this is really hard. It can involve facing things that are not
easy to think about. It can involve talking about topics that are a bit
taboo, can take... can be embarrassing. It can involve making embarrassing mistakes
and that's okay. It's hard because it's hard and it gets the only way to develop
our strengths in this is to work, is to just be bad at it until we're good at
it. And the important thing is we need to
treat people with respect, to keep trying and keep learning. And it's not on us to
complete the work, neither are we free to desist from it. And we can all make
progress on this. And so I'm just gonna close with the Matan Pledge slide which
might be worth taking a look at because it's kind of our ethos behind all of
this. So I'll just read it out which is I acknowledge that ability, disability and
humanity coexist and I pledge to see my students as they are. I will not look past
their disabilities; I will seek to understand.
I will not overlook their abilities; I will seek to support them effectively.
I will not ignore the humanity of my students; I will remember that they have
individual interests and a perspective of their own. They're each created
B'zelem Elohim, in the image of God. So, too, with our stories about Israel. And I
see that it's 2:02, we're a bit over so I'm gonna pause for one minute. Anyone
wanna ask any questions or have final comments?
Yeah thank you everyone for coming. >>And thank you so much again to Ruti. We
look forward to seeing you on our next webinar in April. We will send out
information about that in advance. For more information about Matan, you can
visit www.matankids.org
Thanks again for being with us.
For more infomation >> Medication of Young Children - Accountability Hearing - Secretary of State (Education Committee) - Duration: 1:23. 
For more infomation >> Exclusion of Autistic Students - Accountability Hearing - Secretary of State (Education Committee) - Duration: 1:25. 
For more infomation >> Teaching Staff Morale - Accountability Hearing - Secretary of State (Education Committee) - Duration: 1:42. 
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