Celebrating JDAIM in Calgary with “The Power of Music”

by Holly Shifrah

(AJNews) – For Jewish communities around the globe, February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month (JDAIM). The Calgary Jewish Federation (CJF) is kicking off JDAIM’s 16th year with a special L’Chaim Tea, Songs, and Stories event at the Paperny Family JCC featuring the accomplished Reverend Hazan Daniel Benlolo as special guest. Benlolo is an accomplished rabbi, hazan (of Sefardi and Ashkenazi cantorial styles), educator, visual artist, and multiple award-winning humanitarian. He also founded the Montreal Shira Choir for adults with disabilities, making him well suited to speak on “The Power of Music – how singing together builds community and promotes inclusion for people living with a disability” at the CJF’s JDAIM event, scheduled for February 2nd, from 2:30-5:00pm. Registration is required and childcare is provided.

Karina Szulc, CJF’s Inclusion Manager, told AJNews she’s very excited for the event. With such an admirable special guest, it’s easy to see why. It is sure to be an enjoyable afternoon, though such events serve a purpose beyond fun. Events that engage the community ensure that JDAIM isn’t just another awareness month on the calendar, briefly noted and forgotten or overshadowed by more widely recognized (and also important) awareness themes such as February’s Black History Month. Szulc, speaking with palpable care and passion, explained that the work she does is “not doing anybody a favor, because everyone deserves inclusion.” She calls inclusion a birthright and says our “community becomes better, stronger, and more cohesive when we bring everyone together.”

The theme of birthright is certainly a familiar one in Jewish law, culture, and scripture. The word usually brings to mind thoughts of trading one for a hot lunch or sponsored trips to Israel. But Jewish texts make clear that Szulc’s assertion isn’t a mere personal opinion; it is an essential Jewish value. Rabbi Julia Watts Belser of Georgetown University, posits that premise by citing passages from the Tanakh, Pirke Avot, Talmud, and more in a “Guide to Jewish Values and Disability Rights” written for the Jewish Funders Network (published in 2016 and available online). Rabbi Belser’s four-part case emphasizes the themes of b’tselem Elohim; areyvut; kavod; and tsedek and tikkun olam.

The important work of individuals like Benlolo, Szulc, and Watts as well as organizational events, policies, and resources are helping push the needle of progress for disabled members of Jewish communities in Alberta and worldwide. However a 2021 survey from the United States by the RespectAbility organization indicates that though a majority of Jewish groups have diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments which include disability, 22% of disabled respondents still reported being excluded from activities within their faith communities due to “inability or unwillingness to make a reasonable accommodation.” Perhaps barriers to inclusion would be better addressed if more people with disabilities felt encouraged to serve in leadership positions within Jewish organizations, another concern indicated by the survey results.

The importance of such surveys and the conclusions one might draw from them is summed up by the oft-repeated disability activism slogan “nothing about us, without us.” While able-bodied allies are crucial to the pursuit of awareness, acceptance, inclusion, and accommodation, the experts on the needs of the Jewish disability community are Jews with lived experience. The RespectAbility survey results indicate a gap between how those without disabilities rate their communities’ success in inclusion and the perception of those who actually experience exclusion.

In addition to a need for more leaders with personal experience of disability, respondents listed stigma as a problem. Karina Szulc also cites stigma as an ongoing concern, especially in regards to mental health and other invisible disabilities. Szulc compares, for example, the ways in which caregivers who would never shame a child with a physical disability for moving slowly, might label neurodivergent children as “bad kids” or blame them for symptoms as equally out of their control as mobility is for children with certain physical disabilities. According to researchers in Wales, stigma about Autistic traits and assumptions about what they mean (such as perceiving lack of eye contact as intentional rudeness) has a tangible negative impact on Autistic individuals—far beyond hurt feelings—whether direct consequences such as loneliness, bullying, and negative educational and professional outcomes, or secondary consequences like fatigue and poorer mental health caused by “masking” (hiding autistic traits hoping to avoid such social stigma).

The same researchers list positive representation as well as public and professional education as potential interventions to combat stigma, which is exactly why initiatives likes JDAIM, events like the L’Chaim Tea and Songs and Stories, and organizations like the Montreal Shira Choir matter so much. Programs such as these, which prioritize awareness and understanding lead to greater acceptance and inclusion.

Author’s note: There is much discussion about “person-first” verses “identity-first” language in regards to disability, neurodiversity, and chronic illness. Many guidelines for professionals serving the disability community favor “person-first” language. Many wonderful and well-intentioned friends and family members of people with disabilities use euphemisms such as “differently abled.” However, many of us in the disability community prefer frank “identity-first” language. There’s much valid debate within the fields of linguistics, social justice, psychology, etc. regarding the pros and cons of such language choices and the potential pitfalls of the euphemistic treadmill. I’ve chosen to use a mix of person-first and identity-first language throughout this article, identity-first as my personal preference as a multiply-disabled Jew and person-first in respect to Jews with disabilities who prefer it. Individuals anxious about “getting it wrong” or causing offense can rest assured that the most important “rule” to remember is simply deferring to an individual’s preference and accepting correction graciously.

Holly Shifrah is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter