February is Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion month. The month is a unified effort among Jewish organizations worldwide to bring awareness and encourage inclusion of people with disabilities and special needs. According the WHO, about 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability – that’s about one billion people. The Jewish community experiences disability like any other group of people. While individual Jewish communities have certainly done their part to bring attention and include people with disabilities, in 2009 – the Jewish Special Education International Consortium established February as the official month to coordinate international efforts and awareness.   

I’ll be honest, I have mixed feelings about the phenomena of awareness months. There is an absolute need for others to genuinely learn about something or someone that they would not necessarily encounter, confront, or even think about. Learning and talking about difference is invaluable. It fosters better understanding, compassion, sensitivity, and respect for those that are different from you. These months can serve as opportunities to bridge the gaps that divide. I imagine that these are the good intentions that lie behind the creation of such awareness months. On the other hand, there is a superficiality that comes with these initiatives. Its like checking a box – ok we acknowledged this group. It allows us to feel good about making some sort of effort. We develop special programming, invite speakers, write articles, and create the obligatory hashtag. Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion month is no different. Communities organize expert panels for discussion, websites create content for further learning, and at the risk of sounding less than PC – members of the community with disability are paraded around in a well-intentioned effort to help others learn and create face to face interaction. But more than likely it’s just a feel-good moment that fades without much impact. After that, the issue is just tucked away until next year. I think we can do better. I think we can scratch beyond the surface and start to create real change with a paradigm shift of perspective.

A foundational pillar of any Jewish community, if not the foundational pillar – is chesed – a display of love and kindness towards others, a giving of oneself to help another. Chesed is the fabric that creates a sense of shared responsibility in a community. That we are not mere individuals living in the same vicinity, but we are bound together through a commandment to simply care. There is an overwhelming source of chesed that springs forth in all Jewish communities when it comes to helping, supporting, providing, and ultimately showing kindness toward those with disability. There are organizations that do amazing and wonderful work, built by people who embody kindness and compassion. They give freely and willingly of their time to ensure that necessary services are provided. I know this personally and I am appreciative for every person who has invested in Amichai.

But there is a misconception that helping people with disability is a one-way street of service. That they need our help, our assistance, our care – but not the other way around. This is where we need to make the change, to shift our perspective. Disability does not define ability. All too often we narrow our focus on the limitation, and in doing so we are selling ourselves and our communities incredibly short. We need to zoom out and see the whole picture. There is a person in front of us who can give. This person has strengths and talents and capabilities, who not only benefits from the community but can provide benefit to the community. When we understand this, when we internalize it and believe it – than we can create a deeper sense of awareness. An awareness founded on the abilities of all individuals. An awareness that empowers all to extend a hand. An awareness that creates a place of true inclusion where everyone has a responsibility to use their gifts to improve. An awareness that runs deeper than a month…spilling over into the next month, and the month after that, and the month after until we weave together a more complete community.