Progress Has Been Made, Yet There Is Still Much More to Do
The following is the first installment of the GCDD First Thursdays blog series, a monthly blog that will share the thoughts and ideas of GCDD staff members.
For several years, we have discussed having GCDD staff and members write a monthly blog. The purpose of the blog is to share our ideas and engage in a conversation about things happening in our community. Well, now we have started. Each month I or someone else from GCDD will post a blog and we hope you will respond.
Labor Day Weekend is supposed to be a time for kicking back and grilling hamburgers and hot dogs with the family. Instead, I was in the North Georgia Mountains working at LimmudFest. But this was a good kind of work. Limmud is an international organization that is working to build a learning community amongst Jews. They are about bringing together individuals who practice at diverse levels of their religion and expose participants to differing ideas and practices. This volunteer-based organization is about enabling every participant to take one step further on his or her Jewish journey and to ensure that there is always something for everyone, no matter their level of Jewish knowledge or commitment to Jewish life. It really is about community and community-building.
I share this with you because this year their theme was to expand their inclusion to those who are marginalized, including people with developmental disabilities. Several adults with developmental disabilities were asked to speak to the crowd of 200 people about their experience of being welcomed in the Jewish community. Not everyone felt welcomed, and they explained that as young people they experienced bullying at Jewish camps and schools have not been open to all who wish to learn. But this community is willing to learn more and work to make sure that anyone who wants to be involved can. It is about purposeful learning, collective action and person-centered approaches. It was about building a real community, not with disability at the front, but by recognizing that a community is comprised of lots of different people. Sometimes the community does well and sometimes not so well. For instance, the camp was not totally physically accessible, but the organizers have learned and will be able to address this in the future. Limmud should be congratulated for its work to include people with developmental disabilities and all others in the community by bringing everyone together.
The other reasons that I write about my weekend are that there was discussion about the recent civil rights march and that this week marks the beginning of the most holy weeks for Jews around the world. The civil rights march reminds us that we are all moving forward on the shoulders of others who have come before us. Like Martin Luther King Jr., people in the disability community have made progress because of the work by people like Justin Dart and others who have passed away before the work was finished. Like people of color, there has been much progress made in American society, and yet there is still a lot to do.
We must celebrate and remember what has happened and continue to press for changes as we move forward. Remember most change is very slow, and yet as we create communities that are a painting of different colors, abilities, families, genders and all the other similarities and differences that exist, we have the opportunity to come together and create the changes we want to see. We cannot do it alone and we cannot do it by focusing on differences and needs. Only by working toward the dream that Dr. King painted for us on that August day 50 years ago will we get to the promised land.
Finally, let us all celebrate the ideas of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, to ask those whom we have hurt during the year for forgiveness and to find ways to create justice and support for each other in the coming year. To all of you I say Shana Tova – may you have a sweet and healthy year.
Eric Jacobson
GCDD Executive Director
