Empowering Jews With Disabilities

Creative Inspirations

Welcome to our newest addition to the EJWD site. Do you have an inspiring story to tell, poem to share, artwork or photographs to display?  This is place to find and share inspiration.  If you have something you would like to share in this space, please contact Marlee Kivens.

Craig Deitz was born without limbs and continuously challenges himself. See his inspirational story.
www.craigdietzspeaks.com

D.J. Gregory, a Person with CP, Walking the PGA Tour

DJ Gregory who has Cerebral Palsy had a dream to walk every hole of every golf tournament in 2008 and interview golfers. Watch this incredible story!
www.sports.espn.go.com

Jason Gerling a Paralyzed Drummer - Jammin Grooves

Learn the reason for his mission, read his biography, view clips of his drumming, get the latest news AND buy his debut DVD "BETWEEN THE WHEELS" a mini-doc about overcoming adversity through the healing power of music.
www.jammingrooves.com

Jason McElway - Autistic Basketball Hero

Jason McElway, Autistic basketball hero out of Greece Athena High School, Rochester New York
www.youtube.com

Nick Vujicic - Inspirational Story

Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios together… no arms and no legs.  Meet Nick... Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, without any medical explanation or warning, Nicholas Vujicic came into the world with neither arms or legs.  Here is his story.
www.attitudeisaltitude.com

Patrick Henry Hughes - Inspirational Story

Patrick Hughes is a student at Univ. of Louisville who was born blind, physically disabled, and incredibly talented. His inspiring story is a beacon of light for all people and is a shining example of how the power of the love, support, and acceptance opens the doors to our full potential. This was a piece filmed during ESPN College Gameday on 12/2/2006.
www.youtube.com

Ricochet - Service Dog to Surfing Dog

This is an inspirational story about a service dog. Turning disappointment into a joyful new direction.
www.youtube.com

This video shows a beautiful ballet performed by two young amputees: a female missing her right arm, and a male missing his left leg. What was so striking was not so much the graceful and beautiful ballet, but that it clearly shows to the world how much a person can achieve despite his or her disability
www.youtube.com

Rabbi Lynne F. Landsberg talks about JDAM 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsNlt7zhg7Q

Tom Mischke looks for something of interest to talk about and finds it when local resident Jason Gerling calls in for an impromptu interview.  The Twin Cities native tells his story of his fight from an accident to inventing a new apparatus to help him get back to drumming. This broadcast was from 6/9/10
http://wcco.cbslocal.com/2010/06/10/the-nite-show-with-mischke-6910

Marlee Kivens  was encouraged to watch a short inspirational and empowering movie recommended by a good friend of hers. Consequently, she would encourage you to take a few minutes to watch this short movie. The movie was created by Mary Robinson Reynolds and her husband Craig.
www.blueribbonmovie.com

Choose to be inspired....what's RIGHT with your life?

Envy is worse than a waste of time. For when you hold on to thoughts of envy, you are actively holding yourself back. Envy builds a wall between you and the abundance that could otherwise be yours. Envy can drain you of your best possibilities.

Do you ever resent it when someone else has acquired or achieved or experienced some particular thing and you have not? If so, then your envy actually makes your own situation worse.

Instead of being envious about the good fortune of others, be genuinely thankful for it. That instantly puts you in a much better position to create similar good fortune in your own life. 

When you celebrate the achievements of others, you connect yourself in a positive and empowering way to life's abundance. When you choose to be inspired, your eyes will open to many more valuable and positive possibilities. Be truly thankful for the success that you see around you. And that success will soon become your own.

There are plenty of things that are right with your life. Have you thought about any of them lately? The goodness in your life is so much a part of you that you can easily take it for granted and rarely give it a second thought. On a regular basis, though, it pays to think about that goodness.

Whatever else may be going on in your world, the fact is that you are extremely blessed in many ways. Think about those blessings that blend quietly into the background, supporting and sustaining you in every moment.

Think for a little while about what's right with your life. The more often you connect with the value that's already yours, the more new value you will create.

When you feel that the troubles and frustrations are dominating your thoughts, stop and turn your mind in a more positive direction. Remember that wherever your thoughts go, the rest of you will quickly follow.

Focus your awareness on the many good things that make up your life. For with your nurturing, those good and valuable things can indeed grow into greatness.

Always you can go higher, for within yourself you are greater than you think.

- Author Unknown

Fitness and Inclusion

Last winter, Marlee Kivens, started working out at the Sabes JCC under the guidance of inclusion personal trainer Eric Schafer. “I am feeling more confident and getting more muscle-tone and strength,” she said. “It’s an amazing program here at the Sabes JCC.”

Establishing a routine of regular exercise produces many benefits including increased self-esteem, and a healthier body. For many of us it is just a matter of getting the motivation to get started and then to make exercise a habit. For Marlee, it took a bit more. She was born with Spina Bifida Myleomengocele. Making exercise part of her life had its own challenges. One of which was finding a health club that was accessible for a person with a physical disability and had the staff with understanding of the personal challenges and how to meet them.

Marlee heard about the inclusion program at the Sabes JCC and contacted Anita Lewis, Sabes JCC inclusion director. “Anita is great,” said Marlee, “any concerns I’ve had, Anita responded to right away.” After meeting with Anita and taking a tour of the JCC, Marlee signed up. The Sabes JCC, in collaboration with the St. Paul JCC, offers a Wellness Program for adults with developmental disabilities.  It enables Marlee to work with a trainer one-on-one to help her reach her fitness goals.

Marlee meets with Eric once a week and her goal is to participate in water aerobics twice a week. Both Eric and the aerobics instructor work with Marlee to make accommodations to her exercises so she gets the maximum benefit. This one-on-one personal attention separates the JCC from other health clubs.

“Eric believes I can do things I never thought I could do when I first walked in the door,” she said. “He started me on the Nu Step stationary bicycle which calculates how many steps a person takes while using the machine. In July, I was doing 700 steps in approximately 10 minutes--I am up to 1300 steps today.

“I feel better when I work out whether it is in the pool or the weight room. My energy is up, my strength is up and I feel more confident about myself after each workout. I know that if I keep at it eventually my weight will go down and I will build muscle.”

Anita Lewis was also able to assist Marlee in locating a nutritionist. Marlee has started seeing a nutritionist here on the JCC campus through the Minnesota Medical and Rehabilitative Services LLC.

The overall experience has helped Marlee feel part of our Jewish community. The services at the JCC help meet her needs and she is pleased to see them offered in a Jewish environment. “Working out and attending the swimming classes take me to a happy place where I feel I fit in the Jewish community. As a Jewish female with a disability, I felt I needed to connect with others that have a variety of disabilities. That is why I have created the website, Empowering Jews with Disabilities. I needed to fill a void. Jews with disabilities seem to be hidden throughout the Twin Cities. It isn't easy to meet people, let alone people with disabilities.”  

Anita appreciates Marlee’s perspective and feedback on how we can continue to improve our inclusion program and meet the growing needs in our community.  This includes the physical aspect as well as the educational, recreational, social and spiritual needs of community members with disabilities. Marlee would prefer to do things for herself and only ask people for help when she needs it, rather than have people assume she always needs assistance.

“To empower ourselves as Jewish people with disabilities is one of the most rewarding and greatest self esteem builders I can think of,” she said. 

“There are 27 other adults participating in the Wellness Program,” said Anita, “they all have their own personal stories of what a difference this program has made in their lives in areas of wellness, self-confidence, Jewish identity and community.”

Initial funding for the Wellness Program was provided by the Endowment Funds Advisory Committee for Persons with Developmental Disabilities through the United Jewish Fund and Council of St. Paul and the Minneapolis Jewish Community Foundation. As needed, the Sabes JCC offers membership scholarships to help make the Wellness Program accessible.

Sabes JCC News Fall 2008

Do Not see my disability as the problem,
recognize that my disability is an attribute.
Do Not see my disability as a deficit.
It is you who see me as deviant and helpless.
Do not try to fix me because I am not broken.Support me.

I can make my contribution to the community in my own way.
Be a person who listens and does not take my struggle away from me by trying to make it all better.
Do Not use theories and strategies on me.
Be with me. And when we struggle with each other, let that give rise to self-reflection.
Do Not try to control me. I have a right to my power as a person.

What you call non-compliance or manipulation may actually be the only way
I can exert some control over my life.
Do Not teach me to be obedient, submissive, and polite.
Do Not see me as your client. I am your fellow citizen.

See me as your neighbor. Remember, none of us can be self-sufficient.
Do Not try to modify my behavior.
Be still and listen. What you define as inappropriate may be my attempt to communicate with you in the only way I can.
Do Not try to change me, you have no right.

Help me learn what I want to know.
Do Not hide your uncertainty behind "professional" distance.
I need to feel entitled to say NO if I am to protect myself.
Do Not be charitable towards me. The last thing the world needs is another Jerry Lewis.

Be my ally against those who exploit me for their own gratification.
Do Not try to be my friend. I deserve more than that.
Get to know me. We may become friends.
Do Not help me, even if it does make you feel good.

Ask if I need your help. Let me show you how you can best assist me.
Do Not admire me. A desire to live a full life does not warrant adoration.
Respect me, for respect presumes equity.
Do Not tell, correct, and lead.

Listen, Support, and Follow.
Do Not work on me.
Work with me.

Written by Norman Kunc and Emma Van der Klift

#1. Isaiah 56:5  “For my house shall be a house of prayer for all people.”

#2.  Genesis 1:26-27  “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’  And God created man in His image in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” 

“‘Let Us Make Man’  As long as God is still creating, He does not in fact say ‘I,’ He says ‘We,’ an absolute, all-inclusive term which does not refer to an I outside the self but is the plural of all-encompassing majesty.  It is an impersonal I, an I that does not face another Thou, that does not reveal anything but lives, like the metaphysical God of pre-creation, only in itself.”—Franz Rosenzweig

 “‘In the Image’  Beloved is man for he was created in the image of God.  Still greater was God’s love in that He gave to man the knowledge of his having been so created.”—Ethics of the Fathers 3:18 

#3.  Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5  (two translations/interpretations)  
“A human being mints many coins from the same mold, and they are all identical.  But the holy one, blessed by God, strikes us all from the mold of the first human and each one of us is unique.  Each one of us is a bearer of the Divine image although we come in an infinite variety of sizes, shapes, abilities and disabilities.  Therefore, each of us must be treated with kavod, with respect.”

“(An individual man was created) to show the greatness of God.  While a person stamps many coins from a single die, and they are all alike, the King of kings has stamped every person with the die of Adam, yet not one of them is like his fellow.”

#4.  Mishneh Torah, Hilchot B’rachot 10:12, based on B’rachot 58b  “One who sees…people with disfigured faces or limbs, recites the blessing, ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who makes people different.’  One who sees a person who is blind or lame, or who is covered with sores and white pustules (or similar ailment), recites the blessing, ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who is a righteous judge.’  But if they were born that way (with the disability), one says, ‘…who makes people different.’” 

#5. Exodus 4:10-11  “But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please, O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’  And the Lord said to him, ‘Who gives man speech?  Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?’”

#6. Leviticus 19:14  “You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind.  You shall fear your God:  I am the Lord.” 

#7.  Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Talmud Torah, Ch. 10  “Every member of the people of Israel is obligated to study Torah—whether one is rich or poor, physically able or with physical disability.” 

#8. Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Fathers, 3:4  (two translations/interpretations)

“Ben Azzai taught:  Do not disdain any person.  Do not underrate the importance of anything for there is no person who does not have his hour, and there is no thing without its place in the sun.”

“Treat no one lightly and think nothing is useless, for everyone has a moment and everything has a place.”

#9.  Pirke Avot 4:27  “Do not look at the container, but what is in it.”

#10.  Pirke Avot 2:5  “Do not separate yourself from the community.”

#11. Leviticus 25:10  “…and you shall hallow the fiftieth year.  You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants….”   

“In July of 1776, the bell of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall rang to summon Americans to the birth of an independent nation.  On that bell were cast the words from Leviticus 25:10:  ‘Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.’

Americans value freedom.  Americans value independence…

But not all Americans have the freedom to live independently.  People with disabilities and the elderly—especially those who are also poor—face barriers to living independently.  They face barriers to living where they choose.  They face barriers traveling across town…
And so let us look for ways to summon Americans to the birth of a more independent nation.  Let us strive to give new life to the words from Leviticus cast on the Liberty Bell.  And let us work to extend liberty and independence throughout the land, to all Americans.”
--Senator Max Baucus, Chair, Committee on Finance, in support of the Community Choice Act. 

#12. Psalm 133  “Hinei ma tov u’ma na’im shevet achim gam yachad.  Behold how good and pleasant it is when all people live together as one.”

#13.  “Rachmana leib’i.”  “God wants only the heart.”

 “The Mishnah tells us, ‘Don’t look at the flask, but at what it contains.”  In teaching ourselves to see the inner sparks that light a person’s soul, rather than merely glancing at the casing that holds those precious assets of personality, aspiration and caring, we can act like God in the wilderness, healing when we can, and transcending limits when we cannot.”

--Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson

Since March 30, 1995, Jan Zimmerman had been a breast cancer survivor. Hands Off My Hope is her story of how she had taken charge of her life with this devastating disease. "Cancer has made me determined to live and to live well" she said. The journey she recounts with such candor, courage and humor offers important lessons for breast cancer patients, their families and friends - and the heath care and health insurance industries as well. For more information:
www.handsoffmyhope.com

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition forever changes the lives of deserving families every week. ABC's A Better Community is proud to partner with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to help viewers make a difference in the lives of families all over the country. As part of each episode we will let you know how you, too, can support the causes you see on the show. Through this site, as well as the public service announcements on ABC and our other efforts, we hope to inspire you and others to make a difference through volunteerism and public service.
abc.go.com/abettercommunity