Why Have an Inclusion Committee?

People can be faced with a disability at any time. Some may be born with a disability, while others may become disabled due to an accident or simply from growing older. There are members with visible or invisible disabilities in our congregations whose needs are not being met. The person or family may feel uncomfortable talking to others about their personal situations, or even worse, they may not feel that they will be accepted if they share this information.

Our Jewish values teach us that each of us is created in God’s image and each of us is to be valued. It is our responsibility to ensure that our congregations are welcoming to all.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism passed a resolution at its 1991 biennial convention that calls upon United Synagogue to provide guidance to its constituent congregations for the implementation of measures to make synagogues accessible to people with disabilities. It urges all congregations to take steps to make their synagogues physically and programmatically open and accessible to people with disabilities and it encourages all segments of the congregation to become involved in the process of welcoming people with disabilities into its synagogue. To lead by example, United Synagogue is committed to ensuring that all its conventions and public programs be held in facilities that provide adequate accessibility.

Forming an Inclusion Committee

Do your research:

• Contact your regional United Synagogue office to learn the name of your regional inclusion consultant. Call this person to discuss your congregation’s immediate and long-term needs. Identify those in your congregation with an interest in participating.
  
  
• Hold an initial exploratory meeting.
  
  
• Identify needs - some obvious and some not so obvious. “An accessible congregation acknowledges that it has barriers and makes a commitment to removing them” (National Organization on Disability Accessible Congregations Campaign.)
  
  
• Identify next steps.

Committee Membership

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead, anthropologist)

Examples of who should be represented on the committee:

• Family members of people with disabilities
• People with disabilities
• Professionals (architects, learning specialists, psychologists, special educators, speech/occupational therapists, social workers, physicians, etc.)
• Synagogue leaders
• Rabbi and other synagogue staff
• Other interested people

First Meeting

• Begin meeting with d’var Torah that includes references from Jewish texts relating to the inclusion of all people (See the United Synagogue website for sources)
  
  
• Have agenda but don’t rigidly stick to it- let discussion evolve
  
  
• Start out by letting all participants tell their stories - what is their interest, how have they been touched by disability
  
  
• Close meeting with a discussion about next steps: Where do we go from here? What is our mission? Our objectives?

Next Steps

• What are congregation’s needs now? Create a questionnaire or ask your United Synagogue for existing materials to survey identified individuals with disabilities, parents, the educational director, the early childhood director, the rabbi and others
  
  
• What are some hidden obstacles that prevent others from coming / participating? Complete the accessibility survey available on United Synagogue’s Accessibility web page
  
  
• Consider all types of barriers: awareness, attitudinal, physical, programmatic, and educational

Addendum

Sample Mission Statement: “To welcome and accommodate people with disabilities and their families, in our synagogue and in the Jewish community.”

Isaiah 56:7 — “..For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people(s),”

National Organization on Disability (NOD) Accessible Congregations Campaign shares a certificate that reads:

“The members and leadership of xxxx have committed to include people with disabilities as full and active participants in this Accessible Congregation. In this congregation, people with disabilities are valued as individuals, having been created in the image of God. This congregation is endeavoring to remove barriers of architecture, communications, and attitude that exclude people with disabilities from full and active participation. People, with and without disabilities, are encouraged in this congregation to practice their faith and use their gifts in worship, service, study, and leadership.”

“Our goal is to open hearts, minds, and doors.”

Sample Objectives

• Increase understanding of and commitment to the traditional Jewish moral mandate to treat each person with respect
• Enhance awareness of individual differences
• Remove physical and attitudinal barriers
• Post adequate accessibility signage
• Reach out to members and prospective members

Get the word out. Let your congregants know that the inclusion committee exists and that you are a welcoming congregation in these ways:

• Write newsletter articles
• Use the handicap accessibility logo
• Place welcoming language in the synagogue bulletin
• Offer sensitivity training to ushers
• Offer sensitivity training in congregational school
• Offer large-print bulletins and siddurim
• Make assistive hearing devices available
• Provide special greeters and aides
• Give sermons and text studies on disability awareness using Jewish values
• Involve people with disabilities