Source: Jewish Special Needs Education Blog
February 1, 2014 will mark the beginning of the sixth annual Jewish Disability Awareness Month. JDAM is designed to be a unified initiative to raise disability awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion in Jewish communities worldwide. I will share a daily blog post throughout the month of February to help bring awareness to the significant value of including Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life. I may write a “how-to” or share a success story, I will probably discuss an experience or two as they unfold, and I might reflect on a struggle or a goal not yet met. I may even introduce a guest post or two. And I would love for you to join me.
At the bottom of this post on my blog you will find a place to link up your blogs. This will allow readers to find one another’s posts, spread the word about their own and generally serve as an online gathering space for JDAM blogging efforts. Feel free to come back often and link each of your #JDAMblogs posts. Tag every post with #JDAMblogs. The purpose of the hashtag is to help us to find and share one another’s posts via social media.
As a Jewish Special Educator, I realize that the vague nature of “join me in blogging” might be overwhelming for some. While you are free to blog on anything that relates to disability, accessibility, inclusion, etc., some may appreciate prompts to get their creative juices flowing:
- Week 1: Personal/professional stories or experiences of Jewish disability inclusion
- Week 2: The value of inclusion, the meaning of inclusion, the importance of inclusion
- Week 3: Barriers to inclusion, challenges to overcome, frustrations, goals yet to be met
- Week 4: Success stories
And if writing is “not your thing”, share a photo or artwork or a quote or a video. Honor your own expressive style and do what is most comfortable and most accessible for you. Don’t shy away from sharing your voice!
Together our voices will be loud and we can move the Jewish world from awareness to inclusion!